


When the Last Anomaly Fades

by AbsVoD7



Category: Underfell - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-18 04:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14845496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsVoD7/pseuds/AbsVoD7
Summary: With overwhelming determination the human manages to fight their way to Asgore. However Flowey reappears as an obstacle just when it seems like all their questions would be answered. To end the struggles for good Chara converses with the human once more before presenting the chance to make one last choice.





	When the Last Anomaly Fades

**Author's Note:**

> The 11th and final chapter to this Underfell fan series follows immediately after Glimpse of the False Reflection. Originally I wouldn't have guessed i'd write enough to fill out a book, but it's been a fun experiment and i'm glad to see it come along this far

_What will they do in the end? Where will they go if they decide to give up? How long will they last?_ These are the questions that ran through the human's mind as they thought about all of the monsters that they had yet to come across. As the exit to Alphys's lab closed behind them, they couldn't help but realize that this is the second time they ended up traversing this path by their self.

     "Interesting," the human said as they hopped on the elevator. "I'm pretty sure the last time I was here all of the extra floors were locked down," they continued. "I guess Mettaton isn't looking forward to wasting any time," they finished while getting off on the third floor. A smile came across their face as they took in the familiar sights of the spider webs lining the walls. 

_Muffet_ _doesn't seem like she'll be one to run off. I wonder how she's doing at the moment. Will she be unhappy to see me? I still haven't messed over any spiders along the way, but I'm sure my curiosity has become an issue for her customers,_ they thought as they passed the pastry stand and entered the doors to Muffet's.

     "Hello?" They said while advancing through the room. This time the lights were on making it much easier for them to find their way around the various patches of web on the floor. Muffet was in the middle of looking at her service log while dumping a ton of spider pastries into the abyss below. 

     "This arrived much quicker than I was expecting," she told one of her delivery spiders. "That's not good, so many monsters that have never failed to contribute before are no longer listed now," she complained while flipping through the pages. "I don't doubt you, I'm certain you've been running the same routes for as long as I can remember. I guess the yellow lizard thing was serious about this whole evacuation business," she said before letting out a sigh of disappointment. 

     "Yellow lizard thing? So Alphys was here!" The human said excitedly. 

     "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Muffet asked. 

     "Well, I'm- Hold on a sec. There's dust all over you, and you're wearing torn blue and purple clothes!" Muffet interrupted them to point out. "No need to introduce yourself human, I've definitely heard about you. None of the stories are good, which means you're simply bad for business," she said before constructing a swing made of web. Meanwhile the room started to rumble as Muffet's pet began to climb up from the pit until it clung to the wall behind her.

     "I normally don't feed out of schedule, but for you I'm willing to make an exception," she said while multiple strands of soul energy flailed about in her hands. 

     "I figured we'd get to this somehow," the human said while pointing the knife at her. Muffet was clearly aware of the human's weaknesses as well as her own, so she suspended herself above the pit meaning that there was no way they could touch her. 

     "It takes a lot of money to sustain the basic needs of every spider and we'll risk going under if you keep putting our customers to the knife. Fortunately, I've already thought of a simple solution. We'll just take our business to the surface, that is, after your soul becomes mine," she says while condensing the threads into a very large ball. 

     "I wasn't expecting this at all," the human said as Muffet launched the ball at them. "There's still one very important question I have by the way," they added while sliding out of the way of ball. The immense size of the attack meant that taking a hit would've surely sent them off the edge and Muffet didn’t seem to have any lifelines to spare this time. 

     "Is it really necessary to ask more questions right now? There's more important things for you to focus on from where I'm standing," Muffet responded before throwing several of her razor edged donuts at them.

     "Alphys was here wasn't she? What did she say to you? Better yet, where is she now?" The human asked while cutting apart the incoming attacks. Meanwhile Muffet pointed at them with one hand prompting for her pet to raise one leg before slamming it down on the bridge. They managed to roll out of the way and the bridge was surprisingly stable but the subsequent shaking almost sent them over.

     "Fine then, I didn't talk to her directly, she appeared on a floating monitor. She told me how she intended to evacuate as many monsters as possible seeing how we're now on the verge of extinction. I told her there was no way I was going to leave everything behind at which point she said it was my funeral before cutting the feed," Muffet answered. 

     "Rats, I'm not even close to finding her. Oh well, I have plenty of time to find her later. Ruin Uppercleave!" They said while dashing towards the giant leg. They then slashed at it as hard as they could but to their dismay the attack bounced off without even leaving a scratch. 

     "Oh my gosh," Muffet said while laughing in between. "Don't worry dearie, give it a few years, you'll break through eventually," she said while focusing her soul energy into her pitcher.  _This thing is insanely hard,_ the human thought as Muffet's pet had pulled its leg back.  _Still, I doubt the entire thing is as resistant,_ they continued to think. 

     "Struggle on dearie, this is definitely going to be worth the wait," she said while pointing the pitcher at them. Suddenly spiders shot out of the pitcher like bullets and even bounced off of the wall behind the human as they tracked them along the bridge. "Accept it, there's nothing you can do to win," Muffet said before ordering her pet to attack again. 

     "Actually, you just gave me exactly what I needed," the human said as they evaded the giant leg. Immediately they struck back with their Ruin Razor attack but it still couldn't bring about enough force to break the pets leg. 

     "What are you doing silly, obviously you didn't learn anything from the first time," Muffet said before letting out another laugh. The human simply gave a smirk as their Ruin Razor suddenly began rolling up the giant leg before hopping towards Muffet. "What! How is that even-" Muffet's sentence was interrupted as the attack slashed her across the chest. The swing she had generated instantly unraveled as the human's disarmament effect stopped her from manifesting anymore soul energy. Before she could fall her pet used both foremost legs to catch her. 

      _This is it,_ the human thought with a triumphant smile. As the knife began glowing with red soul energy they took a deep breath while bringing their arm back.  _You've been a great companion Doggo,_ they thought while tossing the knife with a vertical spin."Persisting Sharpness!" They shouted.

     Muffet gasped as the flying knife nicked the top of her head before plunging itself between the two center eyes of her pet which roared as both of them were sliced straight down the middle due to the expanded cut ability. "You... wretch! I hope you die the slowest of deaths!" She shouted while her and her pet rapidly descended into the dark. The human shielded their eyes as the two exploded filling the entire area with a dust tornado.  

_Good choice of final words,_ they thought while heading towards the exit. There was no resistance on their way to the MTT Resort, and they were greeted with silence upon getting inside as the place was somehow emptier than before. It was already hard for the hotel to get business as it was, so the chances of monsters waiting out an attack there was highly unlikely. 

     "Doesn't seem like there are many left willing to try and confront me," they said while walking towards the elevator.  _I doubt that most of the remaining monsters will give an interesting reaction anyway. I wonder if_ _Pyrope_ _was still on one of the previous floors? I doubt it, a simple monster mainly, but not a dumb one,_ they continued to think. 

     As they got closer and closer to the entrance of the CORE, the human couldn't help but miss the feel of the knife in their hand, even though their hands were definitely more than enough. Nonetheless they carried on pass the locked elevator towards the path on the left. 

     "No bio scan match possible, subject identified as foreign entity. All enforcement staff are prompted to terminate the subject immediately," the intercom voice said.  _That's definitely familiar,_ they thought as they continued walking down the hallway.  _Makes sense, in hindsight the other regions shouldn't have disabled most of their security. I guess I'm grateful that they didn't make it take so long to get back to_ _Asgore's_ _,_ they continued to think. 

     "There you are!" Knight Knight shouted upon seeing the human come around the corner. While the chance to sneak past Knight Knight would've been possible, the human's lack of urgency was enough to cause a few minor changes. "Get all of security detail to entry section 1-B immediately!" Knight Knight ordered while drawing their weapon. 

     "I admire the fact that you chose to stand your ground," the human said while ducking under a swing of the rod. They then leapt up and punched Knight Knight in the chest causing them to slide back. "However, I don't expect to get much out this. If only your expressions weren't so hard to read," they continued.  _They can't deal with me at this point. It used to be painful to strike with my bare hands, but now I don't feel much of anything,_ they thought. 

     "What a hit," Knight Knight said while getting back onto both feet. Meanwhile Madjick appeared behind Knight Knight from a hat that materialized out of nowhere. "You know what to do," Knight Knight told Madjick before running towards the human yet again. Just like last time, the towering warrior suddenly vanished right before their eyes. Knight Knight went for a slam then a grab attempt, but the human evaded them both before going for the face. They missed and hit the shoulder instead as the monster barely avoided a direct attack. 

_There's no way they're able to evade so precisely while not being able to see or hear the attacks,_ Knight Knight thought. They then got ready to throw the rod but stopped upon seeing the human look over their shoulder.  _Wait a minute,_ Knight Knight thought while moving towards the right. "How do you know?" They said as the human seemed to glance their way yet again. 

     "Well I was tracing your soul waves via heightened perception, but then you started talking," the human said with a laugh. 

     "No matter, together the two of us will overpower you," Knight Knight said while signaling to Madjick with one hand. On cue the wizard dropped the area of concealment to start bombarding the human with homing lasers, at the same time Knight Knight upped the intensity by adding bladed moon crescents to the mix. 

     The human dodged around majority of the attacks that flew their way, but the assault thoroughly covered the area to the point that doing every attack was impossible. Burns were left on their legs while and a few cuts could be seen on their forearms, yet they felt perplexed as they examined their self.  _This is nowhere near as painful as it should be. It's weird that becoming impartial to the physical form is a side effect of gaining power,_ they wondered. 

     "How are they still able to stand after all of that?" Knight Knight said. Meanwhile the alter egos of Froggit, Whimsun, and Loox joined the fray. "There you guys are, it's impossible for you to survive all of us at once human!" Knight Knight said while signaling to the remaining monsters. 

     "So all of 1-B's security detail has gathered in one place. I guess I better take this seriously then," the human said while racing towards Knight Knight. Meanwhile every monster simultaneously opened fire forcing the human to stare down a continuous wall of soul projectiles.

     "Hold your fire!" Knight Knight ordered as the hallway started to fill with smoke. "Human or not, there's no way they could've lived through all of that," Knight Knight said while waiting for the dust to clear. 

     "You're right," the human responded while stepping through the smoke. Every monster had wore a shocked expression as the human stepped forward completely unscathed.

     "How? You should be ashes!" Knight Knight said while rearing back in surprise. 

     "I should be dead, because that was a dense mess you all through at me. However, I happened to have a neat trick up my sleeve. In fact, I was wondering when I'd be able to do this again," they said before punching Knight Knight right between the eyes on its chest. 

     "How were... you unaffected? Wait... is this... soul armor?" Knight Knight said while falling to one knee.  

     "That's right, a potent combination of increased strength and resistance. This would've been a useful ability against Undyne, but I have no complaints. I'm curious as to what Mettaton has in store since he thinks he can do better," the human explained. Meanwhile Knight Knight looked at the remainder of the security detail before looking back at the human. 

     "They... don't stand... a chance!" Knight Knight said while hanging its head in remorse. 

     "I know right, it's kind of upsetting. Oh well, let's refrain from having too long of a goodbye," they said while walking towards the remaining monsters. Not a single one was willing to back down, but the battle's outcome had long since been decided.

_This isn't as amusing as it used to be. The way they faded down to how they'd respond at the end. It was like a short performance with tremendous impact. It's starting to get predictable now, and it doesn't help that I'm getting to them way too quickly,_ the human thought as they made their way to the door leading to Mettaton's arena.  _I'm here now, hopefully you can show me something worth the wait. It'll be disappointing if_ _Undyne_ _was the only one who could provide a suitable challenge,_ they thought as they advanced into the darkness. 

     "Well well well, you're ready to get this show on the road huh?" Mettaton said while turning on all of the lights. "This was going to be such an amazing show. Everyone was going to witness my true combat potential as I end the threat to all of monster kind. Too bad most of the audience is in the wind at this point," he said. 

     "How unfortunate, I don't see much coming out of this. Can we move this along because I'm looking forward to hearing what Asgore has to say to me. What's the point of setting all of this up anyway," they continued while pointing out the metta-minis here and there. 

     "Don't be a dull character darling, I'm sure there's still someone out their who's powering through the chaos to watch this program. In fact, right now if I was to check the view tracker I'd know that there are exactly... exactly... zero," he said while balling one hand into a fist. 

     "No matter, I still plan on recording my fight with you. That way when all of this does die down, everyone including myself will get to watch me destroy you over and over again," he said while signaling to a couple of minis flying overhead to drop a curtain on him. 

     "I suppose this is the part where you pull off a jaw dropping transformation designed to express inner beauty while showing off your true strength, am I right?" The human inquired. 

     "Close, but no. Underestimating you is the last mistake I intend to make, so while I would've been game for the glitz and glamour, I'm afraid my next trick..." Mettaton proceeded to tear through the curtain in the middle of his sentence "...will be so much messier than that!" He finished.

     "Huh, I'll admit this is definitely something I wasn't prepared for," the human said as they took note of Mettaton's new form. All of Mettaton's limbs appeared to be reinforced compared to his Ex mode. Things got interesting upon realizing that his bottom left and top right arms were standard whereas the bottom right and top left were built into an arm cannon and chain claw respectively. To top it off the right side of his face was finally visible, but instead of eyes the entire side was a pitch-black metal plate with an LED depicting a crimson crosshair. 

     "It's not my kind of flashy, but it will do just fine. I've been able to do so much ever since Alphys left the old lab behind. I should thank you for that, now you can feel the full might of the new Mettaton. New... yes that can work. From this point on the world better prepare itself... for Mettaton Neo!" He said while activating the two wing attachments on his back.

     "That's pretty cool looking, but how long will it be able to hold up against me? It'd be very upsetting if you went through all of this just to fall apart right away," the human said while running towards Mettaton. He simply gave them a smirk before raising his top right hand to the air. Suddenly one of the minis above dropped an unknown device into Mettaton's hand. 

_That's different, whatever, the fight's already over,_ they thought while sending one of their fiercest punches his way. "Not so fast darling," Mettaton responded while bringing his hand back down. At that point the human's punch came to a stop as their hand collided with a field of green light.

     "That projection! This is just like the magic-tool chainsaw! No matter, a shield is not going to be enough to stop me," the human said while forcing the guard to the side. At the same time Mettaton dashed past them while delivering a cut to their right arm.  _I should've known, nothing would be that simple when it comes to him,_ the human thought. 

     "What you see is not what you get when step on the same stage as me," Mettaton said. "Behold the magic-tool Guardian Edge, another addition to Mettaton's Massachrome Weapon Series. Defense is important, but this beauty can double as circular saw so you can still feel the M in massacre," he explained while raising his bottom left hand.

     "Outstanding, the fact that you're not all talk is really getting me excited," the human said while popping their knuckles. Meanwhile a magic tool chainsaw fell into Mettaton's bottom left hand completing his arsenal. 

     "We aim to please, one of the many reasons our inventory has been upgraded with faster ready times," Mettaton responded while hovering above the ground. "I don't want to keep my future fans waiting for too long, so it's time to fry darling," he said while pointing his arm cannon at them. A slight whirring noise was heard before a multitude of soul projectiles flew their way. 

     "So you're really betting it all on one last dance? Alright then," the human said while running to their left. "It's hard for me to say no when you've already lasted longer than ninety percent of the other monsters," they continued. The human managed their spacing well enough to avoid getting clipped by Mettaton's soul projectiles, but he kept up the attack while charging a highly dense magical blast at the same time. 

     "So that's how it is," they said upon noticing how the shot was being timed with the bullet volley pushing them to the edge of the stage. "I'll just take it head on then," they said while holding both hands out directly in front of their self. As the charged soul projectile came in contact with them an explosion was left behind, but their soul armor manifestation kept them unharmed.

_Every moment is critical,_ Mettaton thought while closing in on the human amidst the smoke. He was aiming for their head with the chainsaw, but as they spun around to strike him he went low before sweeping their leg with has arm cannon.  _I had a feeling they knew what I was up to, but it shouldn't matter at this point,_  he thought as the human fell onto their back. As Mettaton flew onto the human's stomach he raised the saw up again. "Three, two, one!"  Mettaton said while striking downward.

     "You know?" The human said while raising their right hand. They then used their enhanced perception to deliver a well timed punch to the flat end of the saw while tilting their head to the right as well. They tried to grab his arm afterwards but he instantly put distance between them with a burst from his wing units. "How do you know the timer on my soul armor?" The human said while getting back on both feet. 

     "This upgraded eye of mine is capable of measuring the density of compact soul waves on the surface of an object. From then on, I measured the rate of release to know exactly when you'd become vulnerable again," he explained. "You weren't expecting that trick to carry you all the way to Asgore, were you?" Mettaton asked before firing another bullet volley from his arm cannon.

     "A little bit," they answered with a smile. As the bullets started raining all around them, they ran towards him this time to avoid giving him control of their movement even though it required more dodging than before. Mettaton closed in and went for their waist, but the human jumped into a slide to barely get under the slash. Immediately they punched upward as quickly as possible only to have it blocked by his Guardian Edge. 

     "You're not one to give up huh," Mettaton said while flying to the center of the arena. "Good, because I have a few more tricks I can't wait to try out," he said. He then fired a charged blast that took on the form of a blue sphere before chasing them around the stage.

_That's not good, I can't completely resist that thing. To focus that much soul energy into one point means it'll deal damage even if it's shredding through soul armor. However, it's relatively slow, but there's no way he'd make it this easy for me,_ they thought while evading the enormous soul orb and racing towards him Mettaton. 

     "You're that eager to get a piece of me huh?" He said while firing a precise stream of shots at them. "I'm always down for new fans, but you and I have different extremes," he finished before throwing the shield at them. 

     "You're not going to throw off my focus with something as weak as that," they responded while sliding under the shield. "You can't stop me now that you've thrown your defense away," they said while breaking out of the slide into a sprint and rearing back their right fist. 

     "Well aren't you quite the self confident being," Mettaton responded while stepping around the punch. Meanwhile his blade shield had arced around before homing in on the human's left shoulder.  _He altered its course of return? That was never a thing before. At this distance he'll easily counter any response to the saw wheel,_ they thought as they slightly glanced to the left.

     "Smart, but it'd be a small price to pay if it means crushing you right now," they said while fully committing to the punch. Mettaton immediately utilized the wing units to make a quick escape, but they expected this and used the follow through force from the punch to assist in pulling off a quick turn so they could counter the shield. 

     "Perfection," Mettaton said as he fired the claw and chain built into his top left arm. As the blades of the claw drove into the human's back, they winced in pain before being pulled towards Mettaton. Almost immediately afterwards, the shield delivered a cut to their right side as it returned to Mettaton's top right hand. To top it all off, he flew up into the air before tossing them down onto the massive soul orb they had escaped from.

     "Well played my little guest star," Mettaton said while slowly descending back onto the stage. As the smoke from the soul orb's explosion was clearing, he was already able to make out the human's shadow within. "You wouldn't have survived that had you not activated your soul armor halfway through, but I'm sure you knew that it wasn't going to be enough to get you out of the situation unscathed," he continued.  _Slowly but surely, I'll find your breaking point,_ he thought. 

_He pulled a fast one on me,_ the human thought as they powered past the pain to get back onto both feet.  _This has gotten pretty annoying_ _,_ _I could've easily powered through that shield of his if I still had_ _Doggo's_ _knife with me. Oh well, just another part of the challenge,_ they continued thinking.

     "That's right, go ahead and stand up again. I can't wait to see the look on your face when you're lying broken at my feet. Go ahead and prolong it as much as you want because I still have to put on a show, even if it's the greatest performance that no one gets to see," he said while checking the live view tracker again.

_He's not going to win,_ the human thought while rushing him. In response, Mettaton forced them back with an upward slash from the energy saw. Using his wing units, he then flew over their head before performing a backwards kick that the human countered with a backwards elbow strike.  _Undyne_ _tried much harder than this,_ they thought while turning around and pushing away Mettaton's foot simultaneously. 

     "You know what I hate most about fighting you this way?" He said while using a second kick to turn around. The human blocked by raising their forearm, but their guard was quickly knocked aside as a result. "I don't get to dance like I want to," he continued while swiping high with the energy saw.

     "Such ridiculous priorities, you won't have to worry about dancing once I put an end to this," the human responded while ducking underneath the edge of the saw. They then jumped up and tackled him out of the air causing him to drop the energy saw in the process. They then crawled up to his face and pinned his shield hand with their left before aiming for the center of his face with their right fist.

     "You don't get it," he said while emitting a bright flash from a lens hiding right above his LED.

     "Argh! Quit messing around!" The human shouted while following through with the punch. By tilting his head to the side, Mettaton easily escaped the attack seeing how the flash threw off the human's accuracy. He then headbutted them in the nose, causing them to reel backwards, before boosting off of the ground to hit them in the stomach with a flying kick. Despite their vision slowly returning, the kick they took had them roll back a bit prolonging the effect of dizziness. 

     "It doesn't matter that the motive is simple. So what if it's called a silly show or stupid dancing? It doesn't change the fact I'm rather fond of it," he said while powering up his arm cannon. "Since you're not a fan of dancing or plasma cuts, I'll just have to give you rocket souls instead," he said while firing three dense and highly reactive soul projectiles at the human. 

_Rocket Souls_ _? Well that can't be good._   _I should be able to get around them, but the real issue is the blast radius,_ they thought while running to the left, but they immediately slid to a stop before diving right the moment the first rocket curved to track them. Moving low to the ground made the rocket curve down in an attempt to track them resulting in an explosion they escaped with small margin for error. 

     "Good job human, but the soul energy released from each rocket immediately compiles into the next making it even faster," he explained. They didn't need to hear all of this from him, because as soon as the first rocket was gone the other two immediately sped up before Mettaton was done explaining. The second rocket came in low so the human hopped on it causing it to fly upward until they hopped off.

_Alright, I should be able to deal with the third one before the second explodes,_ they thought as the final rocket was in their sights. Having tracked them on the ride up meant that the last rocket was approaching from too high up for them to direct it to the ceiling. They proceeded to pick up speed before sliding under it, but it's enhanced acceleration drove it into the ground fast enough to knock them off their feet with the blast. 

     "Gah!" The human said as they tried with all their might to push their self off the ground.  _I will end him! He has to be running out of tricks!_ They thought while giving him an intense look. They proceeded to raise an eyebrow as they noticed Mettaton's eyes were to the sky.  _What is he doing?_  They thought until a sound could faintly be heard from above. Upon rolling onto their back the human looked up to see the second rocket from before descending right onto them with a huge explosion.

     "Another use of the trump card huh? Still, you've suffered a lot of pain to be ready for this moment," he said while pointing his arm cannon at them once more. Meanwhile the human was heavily breathing as they still brought their self to stand up once more. "Your timer is just about up, I'll focus all the soul energy into one rocket this time," he said while aiming his arm cannon at them again. "Let's end this with a bang, shall we!" Upon finishing his sentence, he pulled up on his cannon while locking on so the rocket shot high into the air before curving down in a wide arc. 

_I underestimated him. Despite all of the unnecessary behavior he adds to the fight, there's no denying that he has the drive to win,_ they thought while running away from him as fast as they could.  _Why this path? Why wait until almost everyone is dead to shine at full brightness? It makes me angry... but it's these moments that I'm most curious about. Which is why I can't bring myself to break away from it just yet_ _,_ they thought. 

"It doesn't matter where you run, I'll be ready for you," Mettaton said while flying after them. Meanwhile the human had ran from the rocket just long enough for its trajectory to become more horizontal. As the rocket nearly collided with them, the human slid to a stop while sidestepping to the left before grabbing it and pulling as hard as they can. The rocket dragged them along for a bit, but they still managed to pull at it hard enough to turn it back on Mettaton.

     "No way!" He said as he raised the shield to block the rocket. However, the immense amount of magic managed to breach the shield destroying it and the top right arm in the process. "While I hate to admit it, that was very resourceful of you," Mettaton said while landing in front of them.

     "Here I was thinking that there wasn't anything left for the monsters to show me. I'm glad you didn't disappoint," they said while constantly punching at him. "Nonetheless, this show of yours is officially over. There has to be more to see, and If you could prove to be this amusing, then surely Asgore has some tricks up his sleeve as well," they finished. 

     "Really now? I went above and beyond to make you pay just for you to see this as an opening act? Surely you could show a little more appreciation," he said while dodging the attacks. He then landed an upward slash on their chest with the energy saw before knocking them back with a kick to the face. Immediately afterwards he used the claw and chain attachment to pierce them before pulling them back in. 

     "You don't know anything," the human said as they managed to find the ground with their feet as they were getting dragged. Mettaton was about to swing down with his saw as the distance was closing between them, but the human pulled the claw out of their self before using it to block his attack. They then pushed his saw away before jumping at him and driving the claw into his top left weapon extension.

     "I wanted to believe that I could be a part of all this, but I don't fit in a world that can't move on its own," they said as the explosion from Mettaton's top left arm staggered him. "This is all just a new experience to me now," they said while jumping on top him. They then delivered a punch to the right side of his face while he responded in turn by bringing the energy saw down on their right shoulder. 

     "Dying is also an experience, one that I don't look forward to," he said as the human used their right hand to try to push the saw off of them. He then pointed his arm cannon in their face before rapidly firing point blank spreads. The first three shots released were direct hits, but the remaining bullets were repelled by their soul armor. 

     "You won't delay me any longer," he said while pushing down harder into the human's shoulder with the saw. The human pushed back since the saw ignored their soul armor in the spot where it already broke their skin. Meanwhile Mettaton charged soul energy into his arm cannon which was still pointed at their face. As he prepared to strike them once their guard was down, the human powered through the pain to punch the left side of his face.

_Five,_ he thought as the first punch connected and broke the lens one of his eyes.  _Fo-ur_ _,_ the countdown continued despite the second punch landing.  _Th_ _-_ _th_ _-_ _th_ _-three..._ the counter buffered following the next two punches. Mettaton charged a powerful shot as the counter let out an eerily sounding two, but it was to no avail as his system had shut down from power fluctuations. 

_Hmm?_ The human thought while pushing the energy saw out of the way. "Are you really dead?" They said while looking to the right side of his face this time. They then waved a hand in front of his eyes but received no reaction whatsoever. "Well that's disappoi- Wait!" The human said while turning around. Their brain went into overdrive upon noticing the soul energy building up in the core of his chest, but by the time they realized it they were too late. 

     "Getting there, but no," he said as his core purge burned and knocked the human off of him. "Systems regulations are failing, and the primary interface has suffered irreparable damage. You weren't weakened enough, I wanted that last attack to put you down for good, but luck was never a redeeming feature of mine," he said as the human grabbed his leg before letting out a laugh.

     "There's quite a rush that comes with completing a challenge like this," they said while crawling up to his chest. "You've always wanted to entertain and you certainly did, but this just adds on to the curiosity," they said while reaching into his chest and firmly wrapping their hand around his core. "Now that this is over, is there anything you want to say to me?" The human asked excitedly. 

     "You've seriously been derailed. This fascination with everyone's final moments, or the talk of the world not moving on its own. Don't you think you could've came up with a better use for the time?" He said. 

     "Speaking of time, you're wasting it!" The human responded. 

     "I suppose this is the part where you expect me to express my hate for one last time," he said with a chuckle. "You know what... Go for it, bring them pain!" He answered. 

     "Wait what? You're seriously just going to leave it like that?" They asked. 

     "Dead monsters or not, nothing will change for me. Since when has anyone considered weapons to have voices anyway?" He said with an irritated look. "Go on, bring down the final curtain," he finished. 

     "Why did you do this?" They said while crushing the core in annoyance.  _Now that I think about,_   _I had a feeling we'd end off on a note like that. Defiant even in his final moments,_ they thought as the rest of Mettaton's lights went off. 

     As they made their exit, the atmosphere felt heavy as they wandered about with uncertainty of what to think between fights. As they pushed on, the human couldn't help but reflect on the first time they came out from the other side of the elevator. It clearly didn't carry the same weight as it did the first time they made it this far. The amount of time it took was drastically shorter without the sleepovers and the backtracking. As they proceeded to activate the soul anchor at the start of the Judgment Hall, the anger they felt from the start was resurfacing in their mind.  _We're about to be at the end, and I still haven't come up with an answe_ _r_ _,_  they thought. 

     "You're the most feared being in the underground, yet there's still immense doubt in your mind,” an all too familiar voice said from up ahead. Upon snapping back to reality, they noticed that Sans was standing off to the left of them. 

     "Oh! How's it going Sans," they said with a smile. "I thought we'd never meet again since you clearly wanted nothing to do with this," they continued while reverting back to a serious tone. "I'm not the best person to talk to right now Sans, so get out of the way or else," they said while walking past him.

     "Come on now, aren't I allowed to be curious as well," he responded while turning around. "You have a decision to make am I right?" He asked. Immediately the human stopped before giving him their most threatening look.

     "Why does it matter to you? Why would you choose now to approach me about all of this? You never seemed to pay it any attention before," they responded as Sans moved back over to the window.

     "This has always been one of my favorite views. Anyway, you haven't truly been able to let go of them all, right? I know you wish you could make a permanent decision, but in truth your curiosity peeks with each new interaction. The fun will be over soon though, and whether you give them the sun or grind them into dust, either way the underground will go empty, and you'll no longer have a place in the world. That is, if you can go through with it," he said.

     "Be quiet, there's still some questions I want answered. That's why I'm going to take Asgore's soul, and go beyond the forest of the mountain. If I can remember something, it'll prove Chara wrong, that there is a world for me beyond the underground. If it fails, I'll finally decide whether to go back and free everyone or leave this place in ruin," they finished. 

     "I see," Sans said while teleporting away. A moment later he came back and took one of the human's hands into both of his. As he backed off, they looked down to see a knife in their hand. Upon examining the handle a little bit closer, they noticed that it was just like Doggo's despite not being the same.

     "That makes sense, I forgot he had two knives," they said before looking at Sans. "What are you trying to do?" They asked. 

     "Isn't it obvious, you and I are about to fight. I know, it took me long enough right?" He responded while moving towards the middle of the hall. "Thing is kid, I'm not too excited about waking up in Snowdin on the same day again if you do decide to reset. However, if you leave it this way, I can't afford to have you to come back for any reason. That's why all the bonds you've made in the past timeline have to be destroyed," he finished. 

     "You're willing to do this much if it means never seeing this world again? There has to be some part of you that's not ok with dying," they said while running a hand across the flat edge of the blade. 

     "I don't have any reasonable fears like that anymore. I'm going to put everything I have into one round of attacks, after that, do your worst," he said while seizing them by the soul. As they were pushed down the long side of the hall, patches of bones erupted from the floor and the ceiling much like the set up from before.

_Never would've guessed he'd commit to the idea of monsters going extinct. I guess being the only monster trapped down here would prove to be too much even for him,_ they thought while channeling soul energy into the knife. At their current level, their power overflowed within the knife while manifesting around the edge causing its range to fit along the lines of a longsword. 

     As the first wall of bones approached, they sliced through before having the range increase even further. The next obstacle to approach was a large pack of spiked bones. By plunging the blade into the ceiling, they were able to push off of it in time to avoid impalement. The remainder of the fall went through a similar pattern of the human slicing through walls of bone while avoiding patches of spikes. 

     "That's right, you've seen all of this before huh," he said as the human managed to slow their descent towards the final wall by stabbing it and hanging from the handle. As they retracted the extended edge to get down safely, Sans activated several Skeleton Skewers from below, but their heightened perception kept them way ahead of the attacks. 

     Next, Sans tried to toss them into the ceiling before sending another blaster their way, but by extending the edge of the blade again, they pushed against the ceiling to stop their ascent before retracting it to fall out of the range of the blast. Brakken Needles were then shot at them as they were falling, but they sliced them out of the air while falling into a roll to get back on track. 

     "Is this really all you're going to do Sans?" They asked as they evaded more blaster beams before stopping right in front of him.  

     "It's pretty clear that I have no way to beat you at this point. I thought I'd be able to give it my all against you, but it's hard to push myself seeing how futile this all is, so go ahead and finish the job," he told them.  

     "Fine then," they said while initiating their Blade Cyclone attack. The rotational blade force formed around them like before, except at their current level the attack followed them and allowed them to accelerate even further. As the human got three steps away from Sans, their cyclone began tearing at his hoodie and leaving slits on his bones until they were close enough to land the main hit with their knife. 

     "Guah!..." Sans exclaimed as the human's cyclone dash strike brought him down to both knees. "Welp... you did it," he said as dust started to fall from where they cut him across the chest. 

     "Why'd you do this Sans?" They said while letting out a sigh. "I know you could've put up more of a fight. You didn't even use a single Baneful Bone against me," they said before sitting down next to him.

     "You'll just never be satisfied," he said while falling onto his back. "I told you... all the old bonds... must die... in case you stick with... this path's choices," he explained. "Besides, I've been running... for long enough," he said before closing his eye sockets for the last time. 

     As Sans's hoodie fell over his pile of dust, the human's soul level increased again. However, they almost didn't notice it seeing how the surge of pain they felt was nothing compared to the first time it happened. More questions popped into their head as they exited the Judgment hall and followed the path down to the throne room, but upon getting there they opened the door to see that Asgore was nowhere in sight.

_This is supposed to be a momentous occasion for me, supposedly I'm on the verge of changing this world forever,_ they thought while heading to right of the throne room door.  _It feels like I'm back where I started though. Once again seeking the end despite not being ready for it,_ they continued to think while descending down the spiral staircase towards the castle's lower level. Upon reaching the bottom of the steps they came across a large wooden door. 

_He should be down here if the throne room is empty. I barely spent any time in the Judgment hall for that matter,_ they thought while pushing the door open. Within the next room they saw several lights hanging from the walls with pictures of the royal family immortalized under each one in large wooden frames. However, their attention was immediately pulled to the center of the room where a stone coffin was lying about with the lid off. 

     "What's this about?" They said while moving over to the coffin. Its contents were empty spare a couple of bandages and a ton of natural dust. Upon examining the lid, they noticed a name was carved into the face of the stone. "Chara? He's been hanging around their coffin all this time? Funny, your ideal is what inspired me to change this world for the better back then, but your fate what was the negative motivator that drove him to rely on power as the only solution. To think we were stupid enough to ask if he remembered you," they said while walking past Chara's coffin.

     The exit door was on the opposite side of the room from when they came in. It was heavier and clearly made of much sturdier stuff, but upon pushing it open the human was met with complete darkness. The sound of their footsteps was the only feedback they got as they proceeded to go even deeper into the room, but they sped up the moment they noticed six familiar lights shining amidst the darkness. 

     "Those are the human souls!" They said while walking faster. "Asgore! I know you're around here, so come on out!" They called out to the darkness. Suddenly two red torches came to life on both sides of the human. Not long afterwards several read torches sprung up in a line on each side. The lights revealed a red carpet on the floor while the rest of the floor was black with multiple damaged red delta runes evenly spaced all over. 

     "I would've stayed upstairs if I knew more visitors were on the way," Asgore said while looking over his shoulder. He was sitting down at the moment with his back to the human and the six soul containers spread out in front of him. He then stood up before turning around to face them. "Not a single monster could stop you, but they definitely tried it seems," he said while taking note of the raggedy condition of their clothes. "Because of us, monsters have been pushed to the brink of extinction once more, now you and I will decide if humanity faces the same circumstances," he said while drawing his curved sword. 

     "Asgore, why did you build your comfort zone behind Chara's coffin, in fact why aren't they still buried down here?" They asked while readying their knife. Asgore simply dashed towards them prompting them to rush him in return. As the two clashed they noticed Asgore smiling at them with a new level of intensity in his eyes. 

     "You're telling me that after decorating yourself with the remains of too many monsters to count, that you want to hear a story?!" He yelled while pushing them back. Laughter filled the room as Asgore proceeded to infuse his blade with fire. "A question for you then, did you kill all of those monsters because you had to, or did they die out of hate?" He asked. 

     "Good question, I'd say it was hate at first, not really hatred for monsters, but eventually I started killing them out of love," the human answered. 

     "Love? Like that ridiculous acronym?" He asked but the human shook their head no in response. "Huh, so in a twisted way, you actually had feelings for them," he paused. "You're a human, there's no way you'd care about a bunch of monsters you just randomly met," he said while rushing towards them again. 

     "It's complicated," they responded while they blocking his strike. The heat from the blade made it dangerous for them to remain in deadlock, so the human went low while pushing the blade off to the right so they could break free while slashing at his thigh. "You still haven't given me an answer," they said as Asgore used the handle of his sword to parry their attack. 

     "Alright, I spend most of my time in this place to strengthen my resolve," he said while readying a Crimson Cannonball in his right hand. "As you know already, Chara was the first human to fall down here. I watched helplessly as they vanished along with my son amidst the center of my garden," he said while projecting the fiery soul mass in their direction.  _Something like this definitely came up in the last timeline, but there has to be more to it if_ _Asgore_ _made this place to face the weight of his own actions,_ the human thought."To think that my son had gained the strength of a hybrid being, but still came home to us dying. I knew all too well that he wanted more than anything to free us all, but his compassion became his undoing," he continued as the human slid under his attack.

     "You feel like you failed him. You wanted him to enjoy his childhood for a while longer. You never thought he'd get a first-hand experience of the world's cruelty so soon and it bothers you that you never got the chance to prepare him for it. You changed, and many called you insane for waging a war, but in your mind, they were already defeated," the human speculated.

     "That's right, they wanted freedom but they couldn't bring themselves to do what it takes. I proceeded to kill more and more, to the point that even those blindly sentimental fools became dust in my wake. Everday I'd pass by that coffin and look back on the horrendous deeds they scorned me for, and it was worth it," he said while jumping at them. "I kept the first in that coffin until Toriel pleaded for me to give them a proper burial, it was probably the last time we were able to agree on something," he said while descending with a slash. The human sidestepped while readying their knife, but Asgore used one hand to create an explosion of flame behind himself to boost past them as soon as he landed. While they managed to land a strike on his right side with the knife, they simultaneously took an elbow hit to the jaw.

     "Pretty good," Asgore said as he hardly flinched from the attack. "You're definitely getting me riled up," he said while manifesting two large spectral hands in front of himself. "Go ahead and say that you care if that's what you need. I'm well aware that a human's sentiment is fickle by nature," he continued as the hands vertically circled each other in mid-air. "Flame Watcher's Avatar!" He shouted.

     As Asgore proceeded to pile on the fireballs, the human channeled their soul energy into the knife before unleashing their Ruin Razor attack. On top of being faster, the enhanced version projected three circular blade waves at once allowing the human to clear a path through the fireballs. Asgore was in the middle of dodging the attacks as the human approached, but all three of them circled back on him again giving them the extra time they needed. 

     "None of this matters now," he said while getting around the Ruin Razors again. "One last victory, and your death will mark humanity's end. This place will be abandoned, and I shall walk the world as a colossal inferno that rivals the seven magicians of old as an apex force of magic," he said while throwing his curved sword with a vertical spin. The human blocked the sword, but Asgore ran straight at them while preparing to unleash his Twin Eruptions. 

     “Blade Cyclone!" The human said while sliding underneath him. The activation slash struck both of his shins as they made it under him just in time to redirect his Twin Eruptions into the ground. The follow up blade rotation proceeded to tear into Asgore's back as they escaped his explosion unharmed. 

     "Such strength you've amassed," Asgore said with chuckle. "Still, I will overcome it and take my place above all other beings," he said while fighting back onto both feet. 

     "You need to push all of that aside. Your grip on the future isn't as firm as you think," they said while winding their arm back. "Persisting Sharpness!" They said while throwing the knife at him. Immediately Asgore manifested his soul armor to negate the attack, but the knife happened to bounce back with enough momentum to return to the human. 

     "Never, Crimson Cannonball!" He said before hurling another fiery soul mass their way. The human pointed their knife towards the ground before overflowing it with soul energy. As they vaulted over the fireball from the ground, they readjusted the length of their soul edge to slash Asgore across the chest while in midair. 

     "You can't be serious about standing above all if this is the best you have to offer," they said while using their soul edge to safely stick the landing.  _Come on_ _Asgore_ _, you have to know by now that there's only one way you could defeat a human who's killed as many monsters as I have,_ they thought. 

     “I refuse to let you walk away from this alive! You will be the first human to bear witness to the force that will end humanity,” he said while coating his entire body in fire. “Flame Watcher’s Persona!” Right on time the four hooved inferno came to life. Immediately, Asgore sent out homing flame darts to pursue the human upon completing the transformation. 

     The human managed to react quick enough to slice Asgore's flame darts out of the sky before launching another Ruin Razor at him. Asgore absorbed the attack with little resistance before extending and arcing the horns until they aimed straight ahead. The human recognized the telegraph for his charge and responded by pointing the knife at the ground again. As Asgore stormed forth, the human extending their soul edge to get over him. 

     "Resourceful," Asgore said while cancelling his charge into a slide. "However, you didn't think this through. Beacon Amidst Inferno!" He said while stopping right underneath them. 

_I see, he knew I was looking to make a counterattack on him from above and took and advantage of the high ceiling to ensure that I couldn't use the soul edge to redirect myself. Nothing to do but take him head on then,_ they thought while focusing soul energy into the knife. 

     Asgore's soul energy swelled up before exploding into the sky. The human fell down with the knife while trying to power through Asgore's beacon, but the force was too great and pushed them high into the ceiling above where they took a hard impact. On their way down, Asgore knocked them across the room with a well-timed tail slap. It wasn't over yet because Asgore simultaneously arced his horns into the ground before hitting them with two trails of flame pillars. 

     "All who stand against me are fated for ashes," he said while removing the veil of flame between them. Even having took some rather heavy hits, the human drove both fists into the ground before powering back onto both feet. They couldn't help but start laughing as their muscles ached and the sound of their bones shifting could be heard loud and clear. 

     "This is unbelievable, just by looking at myself it's pretty clear that I'm extremely messed up right now," they said while noting the inability to move their left leg. "The impact, the burns, I can't believe that even with damage as extensive as this, I'm barely able to feel anything. To be considered a threat to monster kind, I've found myself feeling like a walking corpse most of the time," they said while using their soul edge to assist in walking. 

     "You're rather carefree for someone who's half broken, but that'll change in just a moment," he said while reforming his horns and rearing back for a charge. 

     "True, I need this to end really quick," they said while taking a knee. Asgore then came charging at full speed, but the human patiently fueled the knife with even more soul energy as he came their way. "This is it, Ruin Uppercleave!" They said while unleashing their strongest physical attack. The upgraded version of the move kicked off with a soul pulse that absorbed an immense amount of soul energy from Asgore's persona. From there, the attack launched them off the ground while forcefully disabling whatever it sliced. 

     "Impossible!" Asgore said as the human breached his persona as well as sliced through his Lordskin to leave a huge gash across his chest. As the giant goat slowly vanished, the two went tumbling to the ground. Dust was flowing out of the hole in Asgore’s armor, while the human came close to breaking their other leg. 

     “Even with an injury so severe, you still managed to channel that much strength? Is the natural gap in power really that great?” Asgore said while sitting up on one knee. The human attempted to stand as well but immediately collapsed to the ground. 

     “Funny thing is I didn't even think that was going to work. My mind has been on quite the ride for as long as I've been down here, and I hardly believe what I've done. I could go on about how the tragic fate of monsters is rather moving, but right now I really just need you to die, and together our souls will reveal so many answers,” they told him. 

     "You rotten miserable little flesh mound!" Asgore yelled. 

     "Well that got personal. No surprise, I haven't cared to think about what I say as of late," the human said. At the same time a massive surge of soul energy was welling within Asgore. 

     "You won't be so happy about putting our souls together once they both shatter into millions of pieces! Karmic Scale Detonation!" He shouted. Within moments intense soul energy vibrations could be felt coming off of Asgore. 

_Huh, that might be a problem. I'm actually curious as to whether_ _Asgore_ _gets around my disarmament effect by using an external source of soul energy. If not then I should be able to survive this, but if he does then getting out might be impossible,_ they thought as Asgore's soul energy reached its peak. 

     "Karmic Force Shell" Flowey shouted while emitting an energy band that connected himself to the human.  _Flowey? I honestly thought Sans was keeping him as a pet or something after the last time we had talked,_ they thought as the explosion rapidly advanced in their direction. As the energy passed over them without causing any harm, the human looked to Asgore's spot once the smoke had cleared to see that a mass of soul energy in the shape of an inverted heart took his place. 

     "There it is,” the human said while extending their soul edge down to the ground. By using it as a cane they slowly made their way towards the soul. 

     “Stop,” Flowey told them but they continued to walk away from him. “I said stop!” He shouted causing them to look back with an eyebrow raised. 

     “What's your deal Flowey? How can you tell me to stop when you lost as much as I did with that last reset?” They argued. 

     “We have to talk. I know you went down this path thinking you could quickly find the truth before going back on it all, but you failed. These events have warped you and you know it. Indifference to life and death, the desire for battle and hostile emotion-" 

     "We can do this later Flowey, the soul is right there!" They interrupted while running away. Flowey immediately conjured a vine that he used to restrain them. 

     "This is exactly what I'm talking about," he said while healing them. While their burns and cuts were mended, there was nothing to be done about the broken leg. "I'm your best friend yet you've been thorough in pushing me away! You were never this cold before and you never would've left me behind to travel the underground alone before either," he continued. 

     "Just a little more," they said while crawling towards the soul. 

     "We're going to sit here and talk this out until you can make your feelings real again, because there's no way you'll repeat the last timeline if you're detached to whether they live or die," he said as they continued to struggle in his vine. "Can you stop worrying about the soul! You shouldn't leave the underground right now. You've become a danger to yourself, and that will have a bad effect on the people around you," he said. 

     "But I just need to get the soul and find the world beyond the barrier so I can come to the final decision," they responded. 

     "You don't know what's going to happen out there. Even if you were to take the soul and leave the underground by yourself, chances are you might get sent back again before you can find anything," he explained. 

     "That's... definitely possible. If that was to happen then it would prove that Chara was right and that there's nothing beyond this world for me," they said while easing up a bit. 

     "Asgore's soul won't explode for another hour. Would you take the time to talk to me now, please?" He asked. A moment of silence went on until the human let out a sigh before sitting down. 

     "I don't know what to do anymore. It just didn't sit well with me knowing that none of my choices included making a happy ending for everyone. We weren't supposed to be sent back. I regret so many things that happened as I raced through the underground, especially in the beginning when most of my attacks were on accident, but I believed it was worth it if I could find another way. On top of that, it really hurt seeing my friends care so little about their lives after all I did to save them back then. Then again, I do come off as hypocritical since I did so much just to get new reactions out of them," they confessed. 

     "It's going to be alright, just stay calm. Listen, the last two times I was at the spot where you first fell into the underground. I sensed a familiar feeling that I hadn't felt since the first time Chara and I died together. I wasn't sure what to make of it since it didn't stick out much until the reset after my partial resurrection as Asriel. I convinced Sans to take me there again and from what I pieced together, this world is tapped into by a parallel void space that reacts to the thoughts and soul energy of humans," he explained. 

     "So that's why you have the Karmic Force Shell again. I know about the Hollow World, mainly because that's what I see before each reset. What does that have to do with this? It's not like it can effect this world outside of resetting," they said. 

     "Actually, it can," he said. At this point the human had the most bewildered look on their face. "Believe it or not, the negative feelings you had for the world after learning of the loop are what lead to those accidents. You weren't mentally ready to go through all the struggles needed to save everyone again. So that negative energy changed the sequence of your interactions. That's why Froggit just so happened to be in front of the first stone you tossed," he explained. 

     "What, but that would mean that they weren't even accidents! There's no way that could be it," they responded. 

     "I know, but think about it. You know every encounter in the last timeline, but somehow Froggit woke up about fifteen minutes earlier than last time. Also, Loox and Migosp watched you and didn't attack right away the first time you met Moldsmal, so I feel that kill was rather staged as well. Doesn't this seem off considering that you've seen everything before," he said. 

     "I... don't know what to say. Why did this have to happen to me?" The human said. Meanwhile Flowey untied them before making his way to their side. "It didn't take much for me to reach the breaking point either. I was so furious about having to do all this again that I didn't even consider resetting after my fight with the Halberd Hounds. It didn't take long for me to start killing them of my own free will either. To think I drew a knife on that Monster kid of all people," they said while burying their face in their hands. 

     "Both of us have encountered situations that are rather rough on the mind, but it's all the more reason for us to stick together," Flowey told them. 

     "I'm sorry Flowey, when you caught up to me at the bottom of the ruins I should've waited. I knew that you only wanted to help me, but when I told you how I felt about Moldsmal's death, I couldn't face you after seeing that look on your face," they told him. 

     "I'm sorry for making you feel abandoned. Let's take this time to restore your past feelings so you can go back and do things the way you wanted to," he said. 

     "No," they responded while standing up. 

     "Excuse me?" Flowey asked in bewilderment. 

     "This is a golden opportunity Flowey," they continued while using their soul edge to maintain balance. 

     "What are you talking about?" Flowey asked with a concerned look on his face. 

     "I won't be able to take back all that I've seen and done, and this world won't ever move forward as long as it bends to the soul of a human. Lucky for us, we have both soul types in front of us! The two of us can take the souls, become hybrids, and walk out of here! Don't you see Flowey, the barrier just wasn't meant to be broken!" They said while taking off towards the soul. 

     "You are seriously grasping at straws now! Have you really given up hope to the point that you'll use everyone as a means to escape!" Flowey said as he used a vine to catch them by the leg. 

     "I have to do something, I know I had a life before all of this and I'm going to prove it! After all I've done for them why can't we do this one thing for me? There's no reason to constantly watch them come and go when we're bound to have the same talks and see the same fights. At this point, they don't mean anything!" The human said while slicing the vine. 

     "You did not just say that!" Flowey shouted as they jumped as far as they could while reaching out for the soul. 

     So many thoughts were racing through their head right now, but the only action that constantly rose to the surface of their mind gripping Asgore's soul as firmly as possible. There was no measuring their excitement as they felt the warmth emanating from the soul as their hand drew closer. Without warning pain shot throughout their body all of a sudden as they were knocked away from it. As they rubbed their head for a moment, the frustration intensified as they noticed the soul completely guarded by Flowey's Barrier Bud. 

     "Seriously Flowey! Why did you do this? Forget it, just take it down already," the human ordered. 

     "What's wrong with you! How could you possibly go through so much to build bonds with us just to turn around and say it doesn't matter!" He told them. 

     "You're the last person I expected to go against me like this. If you're not here to help, then that means you're a part of the problem!" The human said while tossing the knife at him. Flowey stared on in shock as the knife plunged into Flowey's face. "Wow, I wasn't expecting that. Why didn't you move out of the way?" They asked as he fell over. Meanwhile the Barrier Bud locking away the soul slowly faded away.

     "I wish I could understand. It disappoints me that you threw your compassion away like this, even more so seeing how I'm the soulless one," he continued. The room got a little brighter as the human souls began glowing in the corners of the room, but the human didn't notice. 

     "What the... Look, can you stop. Besides, it's only temporary," they told him but there was still regret in the back of their mind. 

     "You never would've brought so much pain to your friends before. I know you want to find the one choice that'll let you walk away from it all. I also know that you still want Chara to be your enemy even though they've only told you the truth and prevented you from permanently dying," he said as his energy was nearly diminished.

_Why is everyone always right except me,_ the human thought. At the same time, they finally caught on to the change in the human souls which were shining even brighter than before.  _What's going on here? I've never seen them do this before,_ they continued to think. 

     "You grew to know them all inside and out, restoring their hope would've been easy for you, but you've become a shell of your former self. It's pathetic, for the longest time I've felt like I haven't been doing enough, but that's about to change. I may not possess much physical matter or the power of a human soul, but If you can't find it in yourself to help them again, then step aside because I will," he said as his body stopped moving for good. At the same time, all the human souls managed to shatter their containers before moving towards Flowey. 

     "What's happening here?" The human said as all the souls began orbiting around him. Suddenly all color began to fade and all sense of structure melted away before converging on Flowey's body.  _No way, this is a reset! I've never watched one happen before. That makes no sense, he shouldn't be able to do that!_ They thought. 

     The human ran and made a dive for Asgore's soul but time happened to stop on them just as they were about to reach it. Various images of the past started flying past them as the soul floated in front of their eyes amidst what they assumed was a time stream. With immense force of will, they began releasing soul waves at a rate so fast they'd separate their body from the time shift but it was to no avail. Not long after that everything went dark and the soul vanished before the human found their self being dropped into the emptiness of the Hollow World. 

     “What’s going on? We couldn't possibly be here right now! I'm still alive,” the human said while noticing the echo of their heartbeat which usually doesn't show up until they leave.  _Flowey had reset on me, which he shouldn't have been able to do. If so, then why are we not at the start of the ruins_ _?_  They wondered. 

     “Why does it have to be like this,” they heard a voice say from behind them. Upon turning around the human saw an enormous tree rotating amidst the void space. Even stranger was the fact that it had color changing leaves and a faint soul mass in the middle. 

     “A shell of a soul? Flowey, that's you isn't it! You can't reset anymore, so how did this happen?” They demanded to know. 

     “It's all so different, but I wonder why. Is it because they chose me this time? They'd have to remember me for that to make sense,” he said to himself. 

     “Are you even paying attention? I'm asking you a question!” The human complained. 

     “You truly don't understand how lost you are,” Flowey responded with a sigh. “This happened because your determination was waning. That's right, you were on the verge of giving up, but you came roaring back to life just as I was given the chance to make a difference. Now we're both trapped in here due to the aborted reset," he explained. 

     "What are you talking about? It's always possible to reset," the human said while walking towards him, but they fell immediately since their leg was still broken. 

     "Pathetic," Flowey said while generating a flower beneath the human's feet. The human began to lose feeling in the lower half of their body as they slowly sank into the face of the flower. After enveloping both legs, the flower locked the human in place before spitting them out a few seconds later. Upon regaining feeling in their lower half, the human noticed they were able to walk again just fine. 

     "I thought you said mending bones wasn't an option," they told him while waiting out the rest of the numbness. 

     "It used to be that you'd respond to moments like this with a simple thank you. Like I was saying, there's no way to reset at the moment because we've pulled this world in opposite directions. As a result, this void space is unable to react thus leaving us here without a reset option," he explained. A moment of silence passed as the human processed what the deal was while staring at Flowey who gave off a miserable vibe despite not having a face at the moment. 

     "Listen, in case you haven't caught on by now, the human souls played a hand in allowing me to reset. They came onto me just as I was crossing over, but none of their aspects are governed by determination, so the best we could manage was a tie when you fought us over control of the time jump. I've come to understand a lot of things with their help, and as much as it pains me to say it, you've been making all the right choices," he told them. 

     "Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying that all of this was supposed to happen?" They asked him. 

     "The colder you become, the more aggravated I get, the more this void space loosens its grip on you. As much as I hate to say it, this is the true path," he explained. Another moment of silence occurred between them until Flowey spoke up once more. "Be honest with me, that wasn't just some spontaneous lashing out you did. You've thought about killing me for the longest time, haven't you?" He asked. 

     "I hate that you always know everything. I'm literally the only person that's been lost throughout this entire ride. Yeah, I've thought about it, shouldn't be too big of a surprise. Most of this journey has been me acting on my curiosities anyway," they answered. 

     "Figures, I really hate the fact that all of this is some elaborate toy to you," he responded. At the same time a ray of light shot up out of the tree causing it to split straight down the middle. The human shielded their eyes with one arm as flashes of light emanated from an enormous sphere of soul energy high above them. 

     "Flowey?" The human said apprehensively as the sphere exploded revealing the new form of their best friend. 

     In contrast to what was normally expected of Flowey, everything about his new form was huge. An inverted white lily served as his body while the arms were made of two cylindrical hedges each topped off with elongated red thorns meant to serve as fingers. He had six petals as usual, but each one had the shape of a heart with each souls' respective color on it. He also had what appeared to be a halo floating above his head which had the different soul colors as well. All of this was connected by a single monitor, which took the place of his face. 

     "This is what you've been waiting for, right?" Flowey said as his face appeared on the monitor. At the same time two enormous vines continuously protruded from both sides while a treetop grew at his back. "I still don't know what's on the surface for you, but couldn't we push it all aside to recognize the life you could have with us?" He continued. 

     "No can do Flowey, I can't stand not knowing what it is. The curiosity is overwhelming, so if I have to kill you to get the answer, then there's not much I have left to say," they answered. 

     "I guess I'll have to try to convince you to give up on it then," he responded. 

     "Do it, if you can," they told him while generating a soul anchor. 

     "You made a soul anchor?" Flowey said in surprise. "It won't do you any good to have one of those now. You'll probably restore your physical condition, but other than that it won't do anything. Resets were always wasted on me anyway," Flowey said. 

     "Sounds good enough for me. It's time to die Flowey," they said while racing towards him. 

     "Such an amazing friend you are," Flowey said sarcastically. "I can't lie to you, this... might actually be rather therapeutic, for me at least," he said as he watched the human advanced but they fell again soon afterwards. "Really now, maybe gravity was your best friend all of this time. We're still in the Hollow World you know. The place still reacts to your thoughts, so you should take advantage of that or else this will take even longer than I had hoped," Flowey condescendingly explained. 

     "Don't go to sleep on me, because you'll be fading away soon enough," the human said while using the Hollow World to invoke a state of near weightlessness. They then jumped at Flowey while extending their soul edge to absurd lengths. They then proceeded to swing several times for Flowey's face but each attack was blocked by his hedge like arms that happened to be unnaturally hard.

     "Why are you so inclined to fight when we could have unprecedented amounts of hybrid soul power at our disposal? Do you want to ignore the voices of all the other fallen humans as well?" He asked.

     "It doesn't matter," the human said while visualizing an anti-gravity plate to get a better angle. They then aimed for the face again with an upward swing. Flowey used three of the thorns on his right arm to block the attack but didn't expect the human to push his guard aside while closing the distance in one move. "I'm more than they'll ever be," the human said while launching a powerful thrust attack at Flowey's monitor. 

     "Going for the face again huh?" Flowey said as the blade drew near. As the edge connected a loud clanging noise was heard as the human found themselves being launched towards the ground. By visualizing a massive updraft, they managed to slow their fall well enough to avoid taking heavy damage on impact. 

     "As you just found out, my monitor natural reflects incoming forces, so gunning for the face every time isn't too good of an idea. In fact, the only part of me that's vulnerable is this upside-down lily of mine," at the same time Flowey descended while reducing his size so that he was more on level with the human despite still being somewhat large. "There's many more secrets to reveal, but all of this can end with a simple hug if you just give up," he said while floating even closer. 

     "Never," they said while launching a Ruin Razor attack at him. "That was a bad move on your part. You should've never let your guard down knowing the weaknesses of monsters. Hybrid soul energy or not, you're still at your most vulnerable state when you don't try to fight back," the human said as their attack sliced off the lower half of Flowey's body.

     "You're right, that should've killed me, but it seems like you're in for quite the disappointment," he said. Meanwhile the human stared in confusion as the lily regenerated itself at an alarming speed right before their eyes. "Don't give me that look, you don't know what I'm capable of," he said while knocking them off to the right with the swing of an arm. "Definitely therapeutic," he finished. 

     "You're going to suffer for constantly making a fool of me!" They said while racing towards him yet again, but they stopped upon noticing Flowey's sky blue petal glow intensely. Out of nowhere letters appeared out of the void to hover above his head. Upon coming together, they read 'Flowey is filled with patience'.

     "Now's the time to get serious," he said while pointing one hand at the human. "I don't appreciate the headache you've been giving me," he said while the thorns suddenly stretched out in an attempt to pierce the human. "Letting you die probably would've been the more enlightening option for you, yet I helped out anyway because I felt you could come to a reasonable decision on your own," he ranted as the human continued to dodge the thorns. "Never would've guessed I earned a knife to the face!" He shouted. At the same time his halo rotated before projecting a beam of soul energy out of the ring. 

     "You weren't supposed to be a part of this anyway," the human responded while using their extended soul edge to vault away from the attack. "If you had just stayed in the ruins until the reset had happened, we wouldn't be doing this right now!" They said while launching another Ruin Razor at Flowey.  _He won't be able to block that and protect the rest of his body at the same time,_  they thought while following up with another long range thrust. 

     Just as the two pronged attack seemed like it would be successful, there was a flash of sky blue light so quick that it nearly went unnoticed. The human was driven to land a fatal hit on Flowey, but one moment he was there, the next he was gone. As soon as they realized what had happened, Flowey's halo appeared around their waist before closing in on them. It then proceeded to fly them face first into the ground. 

     "Undyne made it very clear that sometimes you have to knock some sense into those you care about the most," Flowey said from behind the human. "At the time I thought things would never get that bad between "us" right, but you did an excellent job of proving me wrong. Happy now?" As Flowey continued to vent, the human pushed their self-off of the ground while turning towards him. His halo was floating above his head again, but more importantly, his petal representing the soul of patience was no longer glowing. 

     "I wanted all of us to hold on to that moment of triumph. We were supposed to accompany the struggles we faced then with new memories. I didn't endure all of that pain just to have it taken away! I succeeded in freeing them all once and I refuse to do it all again!" They shouted before launching their self-high into the air. "You will die if it means breaking the cycle!" They said while overloading the knife until they held an edge several times their own size. 

     "I'm not going to sit by and let all of this happen. This isn't about you anymore, because I'm going to make you give up," Flowey said while growing back to his full size. As the human swung down on him with the absurdly large blade, Flowey pushed hard on both sides of the flat end to stop it in its tracks. "Once I take your place, I'll tell Alphys and Mettaton how to finish the Harmonic Encapsulator. I'll then borrow everyone's soul, including yours. With that power I'll erase the concept of this void space so the barrier can be destroyed for good, creating the one true perfect ending!" He shouted snapping the blade in two. 

     The force of the soul edge being broken caused Flowey and the human to get pushed away. As they hit the ground, the human quickly reconstructed the soul edge despite it not being nearly as large. They then closed in with another antigravity plate while Flowey shrunk himself to evade the oncoming stab. He then brought his arms up to block the follow up swing, but that didn't stop them from unleashing a flurry of strikes in an attempt to find a blind spot in his defense. 

     "I've got you know Flowey," the human said as they were able to knock one of Flowey's arms aside with their next strike. They then slashed at the unguarded part of his body, but to their surprise they didn't even leave a scratch, and it seemed as if their soul energy was suddenly getting absorbed. Flowey delivered a hard-hitting punch to send them back to the ground, but right before the hit connected, the human noticed a glowing dark blue petal, and words above his head reading 'Flowey is filled with integrity'. 

     "Festival Bullet Seed," Flowey said as the human was in the middle of standing up again. Suddenly an insane amount of soul pellets appeared around his body before flying towards the human in waves. By focusing as much soul energy as they could into their eyes, the human managed to increase their rate of perception to the point that every shot appeared to be moving slower. By reading the different trajectories they started to evade and cut down as many shots as they could while racing towards Flowey. They weren't able to get through it unscathed, because towards the end of the attack their ability had worn off. 

     "Die!" The human shouted while slashing at him, but Flowey's halo materialized in front of the attack to deflect it before reappearing above his head. 

     "You can't hope to win, you can't even escape most of my attacks," Flowey told them as they approached. 

     "What, you really thought that a rain of soul bullets would be enough to make me quit? As if," they responded. 

     "Alright then, know that this won't be pretty," Flowey said while conjuring several vines from beneath the human. He then bound them to the floor before channeling soul energy in each of his hands. He then released an enormous soul pulse with a strong clap that reacted with the bullets stuck inside the human. Suddenly they felt immense pressure welling up within their arm, after that they felt excruciating pain as a flower broke through their skin before rapidly growing into a full-sized tree right before their eyes.

     "Yikes!" Flowey said while shielding his eyes as the human screamed in agony. "It doesn't have to stay this way, just give up and neither of us will have to suffer this anymore," he told them. 

     "No, I will kill you. There's no going back on this. No matter how many deaths I take the only way to go is forward. I am determination, and no matter how much pain I deal or receive, giving up just isn't an option," they said. 

     "Looks like I still have work to do," Flowey said with a sigh. "You remember how you would've killed me earlier by exploiting the vulnerability state of monsters? I didn't die because this world has trouble interpreting what's dead and alive, and as a result dying in this place has become extremely hard. I assume it has something to do with storing soul energy. You have four more seeds in you, but I'm not going to activate them, because the thought of you still being alive despite being thoroughly torn apart is rather horrifying," he said while pointing one hand at the anchor. He then moved to the soul anchor over to the human who activated it without hesitation. 

     "You'll regret this," they told him as the condition of their body reverted back to its original state. At the same time one of Flowey's petals began glowing orange. 

     "I've been at your back for a while not really thinking about what I wanted to do for myself. Just getting as far as we did together was an amazing experience for me, but I'm not going to follow your lead anymore. It's my wish to make them happy and you won't stop me from making it come true." Sure enough as Flowey was finishing his sentence, letters sprang forth from the void before forming the sentence 'Flowey is filled with bravery'. 

     Flowey proceeded to shrink himself to allow for faster movement. He then generated a ring of soul energy right in front of himself which gave him more speed and a protective shell as he charged through it. The human rushed back at him with the knife raised just beneath his monitor so they could defend against the charge while going under to strike the body. 

     "Nice strategy, but there's no blocking this," Flowey said as his charge managed to punch a hole through the entirety of the human's defenses. As they proceeded to get knocked back, they drove the knife into the ground to break the momentum before launching their self in his direction once more. 'Flowey is filled with justice', it said as a petal started to grow bright yellow.

     "I'm really getting sick of this," the human said as a beam of soul energy was shot at them from the ring of Flowey's halo. As a slight twist the halo began to teleport rapidly as it fired beams at them from just about every direction. With efficient timing, they proceeded to deflect a large amount of the beams with the knife while getting out of the way of the rest. 

     "Not happening," they said while jumping over a vine trap Flowey stealthily conjured beneath them. They then vaulted his way but got stopped immediately as Flowey's halo contracted itself around their leg. With a quick spin the halo tossed them at Flowey who flicked them away with one of his giant thorn fingers. _What!_ _Why did that hurt more than his actual punch?_ The human thought while rubbing their forehead.

     "Don't let your guard down," Flowey said while pointing upwards. Right on cue, all the beams the human had reflected into abyss over the Hollow World came flying back. To make matters worse, each one broke off into several shots while picking up speed. "You've been a horrible friend as of late," Flowey said as the human was struggling to intercept the irregular flight patterns. 

     "What does it even matter," they said while continuing to fight on despite taking decent damage. 

     "To me, it's everything. You've broken promises, you've rejected the bonds you made, you even killed me once. I really want to believe we can be friends again. I just need you to put your faith in me one last time," he said. Meanwhile another petal began to glow green before stating that 'Flowey is filled with kindness'. "I don't want to do this to you, but I can't make a better future unless you're willing to tag along for the ride. Just give up, and I'll restore everything that was lost when Chara tried to help you," he finished.

     "The answer... is still no. It doesn't matter to me how badly you want us to get along again. It doesn't matter how persistent you are in trying to get it to happen either, because even if it happened, I'm not just going to forget the time I went around cutting down everyone. This is the only ending I have left," they said while struggling to raise the knife, but it seemed heavier and charging it will soul energy also took longer than usual. 

     "Compassion, it was the one thing I had fought to hold onto more than anything the first time I died. It's the reason why I got stuck with the shell of a soul rather than complete emptiness. You've definitely hurt me, but I won't let it end this way. I'm living proof that this world isn't a toy for you to break and discard. I will defeat you and become the new 'main character' so to speak," he told them as his last petal began to glow purple. 

     "Filled with perseverance huh? What's this one about, it's not like one extra trick will shut me down anyway,” they responded. 

     “Still a game to you huh? It doesn't matter how much you learn about me. In short, even if you saw every ability in my arsenal, there's simply nothing you can do about it," he told them while floating closer. "This could've been wrapped up much sooner, I was given plenty of chances to leave you broken or imprison you indefinitely," he explained. 

     "Why haven't you?" The human asked despite already having a good idea. 

     "In the end I decided that I can't take away your choices. You're a part of the future I desire as well, and only after exhausting your ability to try can we work together to make it a reality," he explained. 

     "Adorable, but don't hold your breath," they said while launching their self towards Flowey. He attempted to bat them out of the air, but they altered their direction to close in on his right side. They then stabbed at him only to have the strike deflected by one of the thorn like fingers. Flowey then sent his halo after them as an energy slicer similar to the human's Ruin Razor, but they got around it and under Flowey's right arm by kicking off an anti-gravity plate they made behind their self.

_Hmm?_ The human thought as they landed a strike on Flowey's body, but the cut didn't expand all the way through him this time, instead he only lost one petal off his lily in the process.  _No matter, I can land a lot_ _more attacks from this angle anyway,_ they thought while turning around to strike his weak points from behind. 

     A torrent of leaves and wind erupted out of the treetop on Flowey's back, pushing the human away before they could strike again. He then turned around to block their soul edge as they extended the reach to stab him from far away. At that moment they got in close enough to swing down hard enough on Flowey's guard to temporarily knock both arms out of the way. As they proceeded to unleash a flurry of stabs upon Flowey, each petal on his body became riddled in scars before falling off one by one until he lost his ability to float. 

     "No point in delaying it any longer," the human said as Flowey fell out of the sky. Instead of colliding with solid ground, Flowey focused his thoughts to stop his fall by making a splash. At this point the human could see the shell making up Flowey's soul was completely exposed. Immediately, they took the opportunity to fall out of the sky while restraining all of their soul energy into one point of the knife. At the cost of all of the extra range, they were sure that they could end him with this next attack.

     Once the staggering movements of Flowey's collision had ceased, the human threw knife down at his soul as hard as they could. A well of light started forming within Flowey as their attack was flying downward and as it erupted, the human wasn't even sure if the attack was set to hit its mark anymore. As everything cleared up, the human was thrown off guard as the radiance faded away to reveal Flowey back in peak condition.

     "There's no way," the human said as they fell on top of Flowey. The reflective field surrounding his monitor gave them quite a jolt and some burns before sending them away. As they crashed and went sliding onto their back, they noticed that all of the petals representing the human souls were active except for perseverance. "You revived yourself?" They asked him.

     "I restored the state of my soul energy just like how you have this soul anchor to fix your body, speaking of which, those burns are rather unsightly," Flowey said while moving the anchor over to the human like last time. "As far as the souls go, you charged them yourself with each attack you did," he said while growing a flower right next to them. As the bud expanded, the human's knife could be seen lying on the face of the flower. "Now that you've seen me use each soul individually, are you still convinced that you'll put me down for good?" Flowey asked while refueling the soul of perseverance on his own. Instead of sharing words, the human simply laughed and pointed the knife at him. At the same time crimson vapor streams could be seen flowing off their body. 

     "Give up hope, your dream will wither and die just like the petals I had so much fun slicing off. How can I be expected to take you seriously when you're not even willing to hit me as hard as you can!" They said while running towards him.

     "This thirst for power you obtained, this is what I warned you about so long ago. It's hard to think that anyone can come back from this, but it's possible and I know you can do it. Until then, if it means getting you to come around faster, then I'll give you exactly what you want," he said while placing both hands together, meanwhile of his main petals erupted with a miniature well power. "Balance to these six aspects of humanity, Fusion Soul Driver!"

     At that point a near infinite number of magic signatures cycling through Flowey's body were focused into a single beam of soul energy that he launched out of the entirety of his face including the main petals. In their arrogance, the human jumped directly at Flowey to take the attack head on. They immediately screamed in agony as their body was severely burned before being launched across the abyss. Flowey couldn't be seen because of how far away they flew. On top of that they didn't notice they had landed seeing how most of their nerves were fried.

     "Another horrific sight you've brought on," Flowey said while rising up from the planar void as if it was a pitch-black ocean. "You're not dead, are you?" He asked while reluctantly analyzing the exposed bones amidst their charred skin. "That's good," he continued upon seeing the human's right eye twitch for a moment. "Let's continue, unless you're ready to work together," he said while growing a flower next to them. As it bloomed, the defective soul anchor could be seen on the inside. "Come on, you can reach it," Flowey said as he watched them slowly turn their head in the anchor's direction. To his surprise, instead of resetting their physical condition, the human knocked the flower over before forcing their self-back onto two feet.

     "This is a joke right? You can't go on like that!" Flowey said while trying to heal them, but his soul energy faded without making contact. At that point the human started to howl as the red aura returned and their injuries rapidly healed on their own. As they were shedding the dead skin, Flowey could almost touch the malice they gave off. Even more unsettling was the fact that he felt an unstable reaction happening in each of the human souls.

     "I know I've seen this before. There's no way i'd forget such strong antagonistic feelings. I can only assume that these are negative aspects of humanity. Why am I not surprised," he said while blocking a stab from the human. "The day Chara and I had ventured out of the barrier and found those humans, all around me, even within me, it felt just like this," he said while swinging an arm in their direction.

     Instead of dodging, the human took the hit, but there was no knock back because the human clung to Flowey's arm using a thick black substance.  _Weird, soul energy has never reached this degree of physicality before,_ he thought as they started running up his arm. He tried to brush them off, but they escaped by diving off his arm and charging fist first into his body. The punch didn't even budge him, but it ensured that a single strand of dark soul connected him to the human. He wasn't sure what to make of it until the density of the strand exponentially increased making it harder for him to fly. 

     Energy beams fired from Flowey's halo as the human was slowly dragging him down using the dark soul strand. Blobs of dark soul were thrown up in retaliation to the rain of energy until the human managed to compile enough weight to drop him. Once they were in range the human manifested a blade out of the dark soul energy to cut him as soon as he landed. Even with the perseverance soul active, the remnant blobs left over from the slash proceeded to expand and burn off a few petals that weren't reachable at first. The assault was brought to a halt as Flowey unleashed a soul pulse that pushed them away while simultaneously compelling them to sleep. 

     "I don't understand, why can't you bring yourself to talk with me anymore," Flowey angrily said while trying to clean the muck stuck to his body. Meanwhile the human, who was just about to doze off, took their knife and ran it across their left forearm before shaking off the drowsiness. Flowey gave a look of annoyance as the human sprinted towards him yet again. He tried to catch them with the halo, but they slid under the contracting band before detonating a large bubble of dark soul behind their self to close in on him. 

     "Barrier Bud Alpha!" He said while surrounding himself with a floral barrier radiating with the power of all six of the human souls. As the human struck the shell, a well of soul energy erupted from around the flower like a volcano. The counterattack had them howling in pain, but that didn't stop them from punching the barrier several times as the soul torrent washed over them. With each impact of their fist they left a slowly expanding blob of dark soul until they finally took their blade and drove it into the stain to breach the barrier and slice the shell open.

     "Impossible!" Flowey said as the human shot another dark soul strand onto him before pulling their self in. With two more slashes, they removed the remaining petals on Flowey's body causing him to crash land again. Without the petals on his body to anchor him, Flowey's soul reappeared once more. He tried to regenerate his body, but the leftover splotches of dark were fighting against his ability to heal.

     As the human descended he set up a counter attack with the thorns backing his halo. To break through they had removed all the bonus range on their dark soul edge so that it'd reach absurd levels of weight and density. They then tossed it down through the halo where it left numerous cracks upon colliding with the thorns. As the halo converged on them, they proceeded to curl up as they fell to barely escape being seized by their legs. Upon regulating their self, the human proceeded to deliver a falling punch that shattered Flowey's thorns before leaving a large crack on his soul.

     "What?" The human said as the crack managed to disappear just as fast as it formed. They thought it was one of Flowey's tricks, but none of the souls were charged following the use of his Barrier Bud.

     "I told you so," Flowey said before focusing his power into regenerating his fingers.  _That's pretty crazy. If what he said is true, then is it impossible for either of us to die here?_ The human thought while taking a seat on top of Flowey's soul.  _It has something to do with the storage of soul energy,_  they thought while looking at his six main petals. _I wonder if I can interfere with it, but has something like that ever been done? I doubt I'd... No, anything is possible._

     Flowey tried to catch the human between two of his fingers, but they reacted quick enough to jump off of his soul and land on the petal at the bottom left side of his face. Memories came flooding back as the human placed their hand on his petal representing the humane aspect of patience. In his mind Flowey was alone again. He clearly remembered the time he wasted in the ruins. Every moment he spent wallowing in depression as Toriel found him time and time again to repeat the cycle of life and death. 

     "I was so miserable, but that's not me anymore!" Flowey said as he released a soul pulse strong enough to knock the human away. He then removed the dark soul globs from his petal to see that most of the color had faded away. Despite the unease he felt within himself and the rest of the souls, Flowey steeled his resolve as he recovered the rest of his body. At the same time, various images began to appear all throughout the Hollow World depicting Flowey's adventures together with the human. "Every death, every tear, every frown, to me, it was worth it," he said as the image of everyone gathered outside of the barrier flew between him and the human. 

     A fire was lit in Flowey as he gazed at the image of the joy filled human. Conversely their current face held a vexed expression with dark soul energy streaming down the eyes and mouth.  _It can be that way again,_ Flowey thought as all of the memories vanished into the abyss. Meanwhile the human found their knife again and pulled it back with a dark soul strand. Without a word they rushed him yet again with another soul edge stab while Flowey flew at them in response and overpowered them with another unblockable barrier rush. From there he launched them upward while growing insanely fast as he raised an arm. From there he then spiked them down to the ground before following up with his Festival Bullet Seed attack. 

     "I am... determination," the human said while kicking off an antigravity plate they made beneath their self to fly up again. On their way up, they coated their self in dark soul energy. The seeds collided with the viscous substance before being washed off as the blobs lost consistency after each impact. Flowey then activated the remaining shots as they rained down so the human was forced to dodge entire trees instead.

     "Power... with it... I cannot lose," they continued while slicing, dodging, and jumping from one tree to the next. "This world is going nowhere without me, which means it'll end when I say so," they told him while launching off the last tree.

     "I told you already, our world is not a toy!" He shouted. "Instilled Confidence," he said as the human launched three Ruin Razors his way. Both bravery and patience soul abilities were then combined, and as a result the human's attacks completely phased through him, but the effect didn't last long seeing how the latter soul was still heavily weakened.

     As the human advanced once more, Flowey shot a beam out of his halo while extending thorns from his hand to intercept their movements. They took a hit from one of the thorns while evading, but they still managed to reach one of his arms and attach a dark soul strand to it. They then proceeded to jump over the other arm as he swiped at them before swinging around them a few times and falling over his head to glue them both to his back. With the last bit of momentum from the swing, they came back to the front before ramming into his petal representing the soul of bravery.

     Flowey's mind was suddenly dragged back to the moment in which he fought Papyrus to save the human. It was the first time he gave it his all since having his hope of surviving the underground restored. There was nothing more humiliating than witnessing the traumatized look on the human's face as his failure spelled their end. As he thought about the look on their face now compared to then, he couldn't help but think about how brutal it must've been to lose everything they fought for.

     Meanwhile the human dropped down a petal and placed their hand on the soul aspect of justice. This time Flowey saw the moment when he was trapped in the ring of fire with the two royal guardsmen. As the final words of that one royal guardsmen echoed in his head, Flowey clearly remembered how much he regretted his actions that day. 

     "No!" Flowey said while knocking the human off and cleansing both tainted petals simultaneously. "We may have faced similar situations, but our approaches to what came next were completely different," Flowey said.

     The human who was sent flying backwards turned around and delivered a punch to the antigravity plate they made behind their self to bounce right back towards Flowey who was in the middle of shrinking down. Flowey flew over their slash before knocking them down with a punch. He then turned around and unleashed a tornado out of the treetop on his back to push them face first into the floor.

     As the human got up, they noticed a bright white light coming from overhead. As soon as they caught on to what was happening, Flowey fired a beam of soul energy much larger than before directly out of the lily that made up his body. With no time to dodge, they counterattacked with their Ruin Uppercleave attack, but the immense force brought them to one knee as the residual energy burned them while they tried to hold the blade overhead. 

 "Still not willing to give up huh? Is this really all that your feelings amount to?"Flowey said as he descended towards the kneeling human. Out of nowhere they massively extended the range of their soul edge before pulling off a rather large Blade Cyclone. Flowey immediately guarded his body from the attack, but the rotation forces got around his guard dealing damage to the back and a few unguarded portions of his sides.

     "It was worth it," the human said.

     "What?" Flowey responded.

     "Every tear, every frown, it was worth it. The key word is 'was' Flowey," they said while shooting dark soul strand onto his arm. As they pulled their self towards him they began hurling a massive amount of dark soul blobs. The increased weight caused Flowey's arms to drop and flying was tough as the human painted his body as well.

     "Millennial Gift," he said just as they were about to close in. The energy built up in both the perseverance and kindness souls was then expended, and to the human's surprise, they immediately found themselves trapped in a clear orb that didn't do much as it rammed into him.

     Flowey took the time to remove the dark soul splotches as the human's containment sphere fell to the ground. As they proceeded to slice and punch at their prison, Flowey began to meditate causing all six soul aspects to slowly charge. Since the conventional means of escape didn't work, the human held out their hands before expelling massive amounts of dark soul energy from their body. It felt like they were going to choke to death as the prison rapidly filled up with their physical soul matter, but by holding out long enough, they were able to build enough pressure in the sphere to have the container explode from the inside. 

     "Fusion Soul Driver," Flowey said upon balancing the six aspects again. In response to the attack, the human channeled massive amounts of soul energy into the knife before aiming at his body with their Persisting Sharpness ability. The attacks went against one another for a couple of seconds until Flowey's Driver overpowered the knife to land a direct hit on them. Flowey flinched in disgust as he saw the human leap out of the explosion with their left side thoroughly cooked while their left eye disappeared behind a fountain of dark soul energy. _That didn't stop them?_ _I can only imagine how worn the souls are if a lily laser has more stopping power,_ he thought as they placed a hand on the soul petal of kindness. 

     Flowey's memories brought him back to the when he was racing through the regions to escape. He spent so much time despising the situation he was in and he was already feeling down after having killed for the first time. While fighting wasn't his go to option, his anger ensured death would befall any monster who remotely posed a threat.

 Flowey got out of the memory just as the human finished regenerating. He extended all the thorns on his left hand to attack and defend at the same time. They weren't able to disrupt another soul with his guard up, but they had already taken that into account before they went on the attack.  _Huh?_ Flowey thought as the human shot a dark soul strand at one of his thorns. They then swung from his right to his left side while slashing his body along the way. As globs of dark soul viciously bubbled and corroded away some of the surviving petals, Flowey went falling out of the sky yet again.

     "You have to stop!" Flowey said on his way down. He then sent his halo after the human, but by kicking off another antigravity plate, they managed to avoid getting caught by the halo while launching their self into the soul petal of integrity. Relentless spite shone through the human's eyes as they triggered the next memory lapse.

     This time he was seeing the scene where Undyne was chasing the two into Hotland. The human was clearly hurt, but he didn't heal them even though they had asked. While it wasn't like he didn't try, he just couldn't bring himself to tell them that there was nothing he couldn't do at the time. Despite things working out back then, he couldn't help but feel rather deceitful at the time. 

     "One left," the human said while converging on the last soul petal. Flowey escaped their reach by sinking into his thoughts of a black ocean yet again. He then triggered the perseverance soul effect as he arose to instantly restore the petals on his body while slightly charging the other soul aspects.

     Flowey rained down beams of energy as the human ran after him again. Upon closing the distance they slid under the last attack before going into another Ruin Uppercleave attack. With all of his thorns fully extended, Flowey blocked the attack by locking each of his fingers together. They seemed to be evenly matched, but with the soul of integrity disrupted, it wasn't long before the human broke through all of the massive thorns in one strike.

     "Just stop it already!" He said while bringing both hands in on the human. Upon hearing a squishing noise, he started to worry that he had crushed them. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed that another mass of dark soul had effectively stuck his hands together. At this point the human started running up his arm to reach the last petal, but Flowey got behind them in an instant using what little power he had gathered in the soul of patience.

"After all we've experienced together, good and bad, you're telling me that you've up and abandoned it all? I don't believe it," he said while slamming them to the ground with his bounded hands. "Flawless Judgment," Flowey said while combining the power in both integrity and justice souls. Meanwhile his halo appeared above the human at ten times its normal size before discharging a massive field of light onto them. Suddenly an ear splitting noise rang out in their head and forced them to the floor. At the same time, their entire body started to go numb as the dark soul energy was being absorbed into the halo above. 

     "This is for the best," Flowey said as the human failed to get off of the ground. Their movements were effectively shut down, and the field was too large to walk out of in the first place. Just as it seemed like there was no other option, they closed their eyes before envisioning a black ocean beneath them. Before they knew it, they descended into floor and out of reach of Flowey's attack.

     "What!" Flowey said as the halo reappeared above his head. There was a look of concern on his face as he floated over to the spot where the human disappeared into the ground. "Why did you do that? You can't fly," Flowey said while looking down into the nothingness. Suddenly a strand of dark soul shot out of the ground and stuck to the final soul petal as the human pulled their self out of the abyss to grab onto him. 

     "I've... won," the human said as they proceeded to disrupt the last soul. 

_I see, you knew I'd always be there for you,_  Flowey thought.  _Was is it really asking too much to stop all of this_ _fighting?_ He wondered. _Is p_ _ower lust something that just can't be avoided? What would be the negative aspect of perseverance anyway? Could it be hopelessness? If so, then I couldn't possibly think of a moment that reigned over all of the rest,_ he continued to think.

     As the memories unfolded, Flowey could see Asgore's garden all around. In his arms he had Chara's lifeless body clutched so tightly. Tears were rolling down his face onto their cheeks as he wanted to hold on for as long as he could despite there being nothing he could do. He hoped more than anything that things would've turned out differently if he had just been strong enough to say it wasn't worth losing them. In the end, as he was on the verge of disappearing. He knew that his indecision cost him his own life, that his choices would affect the underground for ages to come, and most importantly that he'll never hear the voice of his best friend ever again.

_Of course, the first death. I was being so stupid at the time. I knew all too well that it wouldn't have been worth it to get back to the surface without them. I was never fond of the thought of us carrying on as a hybrid_ _soul_ _in the first place. We never had to be the same, I just wanted us all to be together,_ Flowey thought. As he came back to his senses, he noticed that it was impossible for him to maintain flight. As he was falling out of the sky the petals on his body were coming off one by one.

     "You're dead Flowey!" The human shouted while falling after him. Without the petals on his body, the shell that made up his soul was vulnerable yet again. As the human slashed down with all of their might, a loud crack was heard as they made contact, followed by an eruption of soul energy that started to rain down every hue of color imaginable. All of Flowey's main soul petals started to wilt, while his body and arms slowly disappeared. From above he appeared to be a single flower head floating along a multi colored sea. "That was an interesting fight," the human said while breathing heavily. "We've finally reached the end Flowey," they continued while crawling up to his face. "Is there anything you want to say to me before you go?" They asked, but he didn't respond or even look at them. "Hello?" They said while rapidly tapping his monitor.

     "I'm sorry, Chara," Flowey said as he slowly brought his eyes to a close for one last time.

     "I accept your apol-Wait what! Are you serious? You're not even going to acknowledge me in the end?" They said. 

     "Rest yourself Asriel," a familiar voice came calling down from above.  _Chara_ _? Were they here the whole time?_  The human wondered. "You never betrayed me, in fact, this is twice that you stayed true to yourself until the very end," Chara finished.

     Suddenly an enormous white light flooded the abyss. As the human shielded their eyes, they couldn't help but feel as if they were falling. Even after opening their eyes again, nothing could be seen. A moment later, the fall was getting slower and slower until it felt like they were parachuting down. Confusion and anger cycled through their mind until their feet finally found something to stand on.

     "What's this about? Is this supposed to be the new end?" The human said while looking around. 

     "Nope, this path can actually take you back to the surface for good," Chara said from behind the human. As they turned around, Chara was standing moderately away from them with one hand raised and their back turned. Not too long afterwards a single, white-faced sunflower floated down into Chara's hand. With a single thought, Chara proceeded to manifest a full flower pot as well as a table that looked just like the one in Toriel's living room. 

     "Chara," the human said while the first placed the flower pot on the table. 

     "What is it now," Chara said while turning their way. Though they were giving off a light smile, their eyes clearly portrayed the sadness they were feeling. 

     "I hate you!" The human said while running at them with a punch. In a pathetic display, they human phased right through Chara with their fist before hitting the ground. 

     "So I've heard, and this is supposed to matter to me why exactly?" Chara responded condescendingly. 

     "You ruined everything," they said while getting back up. 

     "What? You trying to kill yourself back then? Are you seriously going to tell me of all people that you suddenly care about what happened in the last timeline? It's pretty obvious that your emotional investment expired a long time ago. Besides, you were never really ready to die, you were just too scared to make the choice yourself. Go on, give me another reason as to why this is 'my' fault," Chara said sarcastically.

     "You... you... you're wrong!" the human said. Chara raised an eyebrow in confusion as the point of the conversation felt rather unclear. Meanwhile the human, still in a fit of rage, tried to punch them again with no success. 

     "Welcome to my particular house of the dead, to each his own of course. You can't interact with anything here unless I want you to," they explained. Despite understanding what Chara meant, the human proceeded to launch pointless attacks their way. _This is annoying,_ Chara thought. "Hey genius, if I was always wrong, then wouldn't it have made more sense to go with the path I said you couldn't take?" Chara asked.

     "I don't care," they said despite their efforts still being futile. With a single thought, Chara had the human sink into the floor until only their head was visible.

     "Listen up, you're done here alright. If you came all this way just to pick a fight with me then you've wasted an absurd amount of time," Chara said as the human tried to break free. "You're powerless. Determination, magic, physicality, none of these concepts exist here. This entire area is dependent on my thoughts alone, now I could sit here and poke your nose for a good millennium, or you could calm down and listen to what I have to say. I know what you're thinking. Asriel tried to do that too so this couldn't be any different. Well it is, because fighting isn't an option this time," Chara finished.

     The human was just about burned out by now. Without the implementation of determination or soul energy, they resorted back to having a sensitive body with abysmal stamina. As their mind slowly began to clear, their curiosity was enough to push the anger aside. "Alright then, let's talk," they said.

     "Good," Chara responded. Meanwhile a chair appeared on the other side of Chara's table. "Have a seat," Chara lightly beckoned. As they grudgingly complied, the human noticed a tear forming in Chara's eye as their gaze kept trailing back to the flower. 

     "You got something,"- They tried to say. 

     "Don't worry about me," Chara interrupted. "I envy you, he was my best friend, yet he spent the better days of his second life convinced that you were the greatest person in the world. He gave you so many chances to try again and even offered to break the loop forever, and it drove me nuts that you still refused, because I would've done anything just to get one opportunity like that. Nonetheless, you had the audacity to find me and complain when he virtually opened a door for you. I'll admit I was wrong, but if you knew that, why didn't you get out when you had the chance?" Chara told them.

     "I don't know, never did. I've done so many things that didn't make sense or went against what I originally wanted. I just didn't consider it much since it seemed like there was no point in trying to leave an impression. It seemed easier to push everything away, even with Flowey despite the fact he remembered everything before and after the resets," they responded.

     "Really, I thought I was going to turn out like that as well. You know, each time you reminded him of when he was at his worst to counter the souls, I got to see it too. That memory of hopelessness from before, that's the reason why I wasn't completely empty when I crossed over. I would've dismissed everything as I died, but in his final moments he convinced me to hold onto a piece of myself," Chara continued. 

     "I know I haven't been straight forward, but I don't see why this has you so worked up. There's always next reset if I'm unable to handle how this turns out," the human responded. 

     "How cute, after being so adamant towards going back you think you can just redo it all without missing a beat? The first run held all of your legitimate concerns in it, everything else since has just been your curiosity running rampant. Even if you were to create the specific ending you wanted, I bet finding the slightest secret or most minuscule change would be enough to bring you right back to the start. You're a human, I don't expect you'll be able to control the urge," Chara told them.

     "Will you chill out? You've always been unpleasant when it came to humans, why is that?" The human asked but Chara simply burst out into laughter. 

     "That seems unnecessary, don't you think? Now that I think about it, when you fought Asgore, there was never really a need to ask about my coffin or his secret sanctum either. Can I really assume that my feelings have any importance to you when you just mentioned moving on to the next reset? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were planning to ask me that anyway," Chara said with a smile. 

     "You're really making this a bigger deal then it has to be," the human irritably replied. 

     "Every time you prioritize finding out something new over running the course, it makes it hard for me to stay convinced that you'll bring all of this to a permanent stop. Please tell me that you've at least been able to convince yourself that you can," Chara said, but the human sat in silence knowing all too well that they still don't have an answer. As the two continued to accomplish nothing, Chara gave out a sigh before speaking up once more. "Monsters were the best to hang around before tragedy struck. I was convinced that they were the only beings that were inherently good in this world. I was amazed to see them maintain such strong feelings for one another despite being trapped for so long. Humans were the opposite, it seemed that despite an ever-changing world, they'd slowly became detached to their surroundings over time," Chara continued. 

     "Huh, well the underground is a rather unique place. I doubt that would happen to a human like you," the human said.

     "Except it did," Chara said with a sigh. "No matter how magical it was, I slowly became immune to their wonders to the point that it worried me. Years went by, and there was still no other human to fall. While my will was starting to waver, they still remained ever hopeful. I wasn't built to endure a decade much less a century of this, so I had to do something to stop things from carrying on this way. Of course, the only answer lied dormant within myself," Chara explained. 

     "Was it hard for you to consider giving up your physical form?" The human asked. 

     "Of course, it's hard to give up simple pleasures like your favorite snack or a heartwarming hug, but there was no way I'd live as long as a monster so becoming a part of one was the only way. I was rather pushy with Asriel, convincing him to take my soul wasn't going to be possible otherwise. I knew this was asking a lot out of him, so I told him to trust me as I took control of our hybrid body and went for the surface. There was no hiding my inner thoughts from him at that point, and his interference made it very clear to me that I had become what I hated most," Chara finished. Meanwhile the human hung their head low as another moment of silence passed between them. 

     "You were right, most of the time he was right as well. I wanted to believe I had it all under control, but I knew in the back of my mind that I was delaying the inevitable. I wanted it to end, but I wasn't ready to die. With each new thing I found out, I was able to distract myself from worrying about the world's future. Even when I was given a golden opportunity that would've allowed everyone to move on, I was more fixated on whether or not it was possible to kill him and what would happen next," the human admitted. 

     "Despite all of that, he still chose to be your best friend up until his final moments. The hostility you've witnessed down there, none of them were like that in my time. The brutality they adopted after Asriel's death was never their first choice. Humans did that to them, which is I why I can't stand myself for having fueled the fire. I was never a prime example of good morals, but Asriel's unyielding kindness always made me feel like I could do better. It makes me hate the fact that I have to give him back to you one last time," Chara said. 

     "Give him- What?" The human asked. 

     "It's time for you to leave now," Chara said while holding out both hands. Suddenly a mass of clear soul energy and unknown shape materialized before them.

     "What is that?" The human asked as both they and the flower started to become transparent. 

     "I like to call it an angel feather. With all the free time I had, I went around shadowing every monster in the underground. By collecting echoes of their unique magic signatures, I was able to make this. I didn't have a good opinion of you when you first fell since you're a human. Just in case everyone in the underground suddenly disappeared, I made sure I'd be ready to undo your work. It's time for you to make one last choice, just as it's time for me to truly leave this world behind. Best of luck, partner," Chara said before having the angel feather explode. 

     A sphere of light appeared in Chara's hand with the destruction of the angel feather. Chara then proceeded to take a deep breath before blowing the sphere off of their palm and into the abyss ahead. Soon afterwards, a void hole opened itself amidst the spectral plane. The human could feel a sense of weightlessness wash over them as the void hole slowly drew them in. As they tried their best to run away, Chara stood up before removing the flower from the pot. After taking a deep breath Chara managed to smile once more, and there wasn't a single tear in sight, but the pain in their heart was clear as they failed to hide their forlorn eyes. The human was still fighting to outrun the pull as Chara released the flower into the wormhole before waving goodbye.

     "Is this really it! You won't be able to watch over them anymore if you end things this way! Can you really accept never being able to see them again?" The human shouted as the gap between them continued to grow larger. 

     "I made my choice a long time ago. I enjoyed watching and laughing with them, but it'll never be the same as actually being with them. This is the last gift I can offer before leaving the spiritual plane for good. What happens next will be up to you. If you decide to save them all, then I can rest easy knowing that they'll enjoy a new life on the surface. However, if you don't... well, I'd like to believe they'll be joining me soon enough," Chara finished. Meanwhile the pull of the void hole continuously grew stronger until the human was no longer able to escape. 

     Crossing dimensions felt very similar to all the other times the human would reset. As usual the human's senses were nullified until a far-off heartbeat would slowly get louder and louder. Just as the sound reached its peak, they were sure they heard another heart in the abyss. Slowly but surely, a multitude of hearts began echoing throughout the entirety of the Hollow World until they all came to a sudden stop. Upon opening their eyes, the human was shocked upon realizing they were inside the throne room again. Even more interesting was that Flowey, Sans, the rest of their friends, and even all the monsters that had perished that day were all in the room looking just as confused as they were. 

     "Asgore!" A random monster shouted while running torwards him. "Die you piece of-" A swift knee to the face from Undyne assured that Asgore's assailant didn't take another step forward. Just like that an enormous battle broke out in the throne room with the human going unnoticed for the most part. Flowey constantly hopped from one monster to the next as the danger of getting trampled was extremely high. Meanwhile Sans evaded oncoming attackers while pondering why all of this would happen. 

     "Human," Asgore said while being the first to recognize them. They flinched as he raised his hand their way while manifesting crimson fire, but he couldn't pull off any more than a few red sparks. "Why isn't working?" He said as embers slowly drifted from his palm. As realization struck, he quickly looked over his shoulder to see Toriel pointing at him with her Flame Watcher's Eye fully manifested.  _It's complete chaos right now, what does this have to do with my choice?_ The human wondered. Meanwhile Asgore roared before rushing Toriel. 

     "Leave that child alone Asgore!" Toriel shouted while launching a Cyclonic Blaze at him. 

     "Even after all of this time, you still can't distinguish right from necessary!" He said while knocking the attack aside with his right hand. He then shoulder charged her before pulling her back in with his left and catching her leg with his right. "That way of thinking will keep you broken forever!" He said before lifting her high above his head. Suddenly three mechanical bits attached their selves to his armor before he could slam Toriel into the ground. With a quick discharge of soul energy, Asgore was paralyzed, and soon afterwards a large disembodied fist sent him flying into the nearest wall. 

     "Woah," Toriel said as Asgore dropped her upon taking the hit.  _Who did that?_ She wondered while sitting up and looking over her shoulder. Toriel slightly jumped as she watched the disembodied hand crawl back into Endogeny while Alphys could be seen atop the amalgamate's back with a bright yellow light emanating from her magic-tool revolver. 

     "This has been long overdue Asgore," Alphys said while pulling a rifle out of Endogeny. While holding her breath she acquired the target, but just as she was about to pull the trigger, the shot was knocked off course as an energy spear collided with the barrel. 

     "Come on Alphys, you're the last person I would've wanted to get into a fight with," Undyne said while approaching her and Endogeny. 

     "I was never looking forward to this either," Alphys said while re-equiping her magic-tool revolver. "I just don't see a worthwhile future that still has him in it," Alphys continued while putting on her Mechweaver's guantlet as well. Undyne then went flying into the air before raining death upon them with her Cyan Raindrop. Endogeny tossed Alphys to the side as the rain of energy reduced it to a puddle. Using her gauntlet, Alphys levitated swords out of the Endogeny stain to send at Undyne followed by several shots of her revolver. Undyne quickly got around the swords with her aerial maneuverability before powering through the shots by turning herself into a Dread Wind Spiral. Alphys pulled more mech bits out of Endogeny as Undyne came crashing down as a drill of power. The two were locked in place as Alphys manipulated the bits into an energy shield to stop her but the barrier wasn't going to hold for long.

     "Excuse me," Mettaton said while ramming into Undyne mid-air. As she went rolling away Endogeny pulled itself together while returning to Alphys. "Don't you think it's a bit rude to interrupt Asgore's final performance," he said while pulling out two magical-tool chainsaws. 

     "You! I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to step out of place like this," Undyne said while getting back up. 

     "Well aren't you so sure of yourself, I was always more than just a weapon," Mettaton said.  _What's this? Projectile, high soul energy compression, approximately two centimeters in length, I can stop it,_  Mettaton thought while raising one the chainsaws high overhead. He then turned around while swinging down but his target wasn't going down easy. 

     "Respect is something to be earned machine, you were built to kill and your creator doesn't owe you anything for it," Papyrus said as Mettaton was fighting off his Reaper's Fingertip. Suddenly the attack exploded, and while Mettaton was still completely functional, both bottom arms were destroyed in the process. 

     "No," Flowey said while hopping from the head of one monster to the next. At the same time Asgore regrouped with Undyne and Papryus while Toriel backed up Alphys and Mettaton. 

     "Flowey? What's he trying to do?" The human said while evading attacks and pushing back stray monsters. 

     "Stop!" Flowey shouted while landing face first in front of everyone. 

     "A talking flower?" Papyrus questioned. 

     "You're not collecting failures now, are you Alphys," Asgore said. 

     "As far as I'm concerned both of you are better off vaporized," Alphys responded. 

     "No, the choice has already been made," Toriel said while dragging her gaze from Flowey to Asgore. 

     "Haven't seen you in quite some time, you're tougher than I thought," Mettaton said. 

     "Why is this punk such a big deal?" Undyne said. 

_What's supposed to happen right now? Is this the decision? Do I help him, or should I_ _watch?_ The human wondered. Meanwhile Flowey closed his eyes an unleashed a large soul pulse throughout the throne room. While his energy barely caused a reaction in the room, everyone came to a sudden stop as the six human souls suddenly erupted from below. 

     "They came to him? Why?" Asgore shouted. Suddenly a pillar of light emerged in the center of the room, and all of the monsters struggled to escape its grasp with no success. A familiar sensation washed over the human as the light vanished to reveal Asriel resurrected in his original form. 

     "It's you!" Asriel said as the human walked up to him with a perplexed look on their face. "Why did you do all of this? Was it to start another fight? Did you have so much fun killing everyone that you thought it'd be cool to do it again!" He shouted. 

     "Calm down, it's not that simple," the human responded. 

     "Are you serious!" Asriel said while bursting into laughter. "It seemed simple enough when you were toying with everyone's future," he continued.

     "I deserve that, but I talked to Chara again, with a bit of time I was able to even myself out long enough to"- 

     "What does it even matter," Asriel cut in. "Am I supposed expect you to be more considerate of your actions after talking with them? I'd like to trust you, but it's pretty hard to do seeing how you've already cut me down twice," he said. Before either of them could say anything else, Asriel suddenly fell onto his hands and knees with a pained expression. 

     "What's happening to you?" The human asked while stepping even closer. 

     "Not so fast," Asriel said while signaling them to stop with one hand. "You're doing a pretty good job of showing legitimate concern," he said while pushing himself back onto both feet. "However, in the back of your eyes, you're still hungry," he continued. 

     "Woah, what are you talking about?" The human asked. 

     "Just one more reset is all it'll take," Asriel began to whisper. "A new sight yields new secrets," he continued. "Can I kill it?" He finished.  _What will happen if I do,_ the human thought. 

     "That was all me?" The distraught human said before falling to their knees. 

     "Is this what you wanted? To make me regret the kindhearted nature all monsters used to have?" Asriel said before falling over again. "I can't handle them. So many souls floating within, all gathered into a whirlpool of sadness and anger. Humans did this, I thought you'd be different. It feels like so long ago that I was warning you of how dangerous monsters can be, yet you still believed in them. I was happy to call you my new best friend, and unlike Chara you weren't burdened by ill-feelings from the surface. I was convinced that the cycle of pain would end with you!" Asriel said with a devastated look in his eyes. Meanwhile the human stood back up before walking towards him again. 

     "You're right, it will end with me," they told him.

 

**_The end is nigh, with this final decision, the human will either bring salvation or extinction to monster kind. Either way, their journey will be officially over and they'll no longer have the power to reset. A multitude of factors can play into the final shift of their moral_** **_scales, they_ ** **_might reflect on their past experiences or consider future outcomes. Nonetheless the choice can't be put off any longer_ ** **_._ **

 

**Pacifist:** Asriel glared intensely as the human started running towards him. With a wave of his hand two spectral wave cannons materialized above him. As he was about to vaporize them, the discord within his soul caused him to stagger while the cannons simultaneously disappeared. Meanwhile the human closed in before hugging him as tight as they possibly could. 

     "I'm sorry, I know you find that hard to believe, but I honestly don't want to fight you anymore," the human told him. 

     "Really? If that's the case, then why wasn't I able to reach you? Why is it that you only chose to think about all of this after talking with Chara?" He complained. 

     "I know I've done wrong by you on so many accounts, but I'm putting everything I have into you just as I had done the first time we traveled the underground together. You said you can break the loop and ensure a world where we all survive the underground right? I'm counting on you to live up to that," they told him. "I just need you to show me that I can rely on you one last time. If you can't do it for me, then do it for yourself," they continued. A moment of silence passed as Asriel stared at them with suspecting eyes until he gave out a sigh. 

     "I can do it," Asriel said while trying to push them off but they clung to him even more. 

     "You still have time Asriel, you don't have to become what you hate most. One more chance, please," they asked. He felt hesitant at first, but after a moment he let out a sigh before hugging them back. "Thank you so much," the human said with a smile. After finally breaking the hug, the human cupped both hands together in front of Asriel. As they successfully formed a soul anchor in their hands Asriel slowly raised one hand as they lifted it even closer to him. 

     "It's been so long since I had used one of these. Chara would always create miraculous experiences for us, and I always wondered how they did it," he said. 

     "They did their best, now it's time for you to free us Asriel," the human said. As he seized the soul anchor in one hand, the human saw the world around lose color. Even as he took the anchor away, they couldn't even move. No sound came out as they watched his lips move, but they still felt like there was understanding despite not hearing what he said. 

_The human wasn't in control anymore upon coming back. They mainly sat back and enjoyed the ride. Flowey was mainly responsible for most of the interactions the duo had with the other monsters, and the knowledge he obtained from the souls and the previous timelines allowed him to reason with everyone without having to kill the human to make progress. By the end of the day he had kept his promise, and upon reasoning with_ _Asgore_ _yet again, the human willingly allowed him to use their soul so that he could remove the effects of the hollow dimension permanently. The human was worried the night before their rise to the surface. Thoughts of how they might respond to remembering the past life_ _or how the_ _other humans may act upon seeing monsters would constantly_ _come_ _to mind. However, with the help of friends, they were easily able to push aside the doubts of today so that they could better face the challenges of tomorrow._  

 

**Genocide:** Asriel glared intensely as the human started running towards him. With a wave of his hand two spectral wave cannons materialized above him. As he was about to vaporize them, the discord within his soul caused him to stagger while the cannons simultaneously disappeared. Meanwhile the human materialized a knife of soul energy before striking him as hard as they possibly could.

     "Pointless," Asriel said as the blade bounced off of him. "At this level of soul power there's no way you can hurt me," he said. He then placed one hand on the ground and forced them back by conjuring chaos sabers from the earth. "Calm down!" Asriel shouted while clutching his chest. He then conjured a saber in each hand before using them to stand up again. 

     "You can't fight so well with all of those souls swarming about," the human said while firing a Ruin Razor in his direction.

     "And that's supposed to make it more fun for you right?" He responded while slicing away the attack. The human triggered their Persisting Sharpness technique next, and Asriel tossed a sword as well, but his soul energy was leagues above theirs at this point, so as the attacks clashed his won out immediately. 

     "Quit holding on!" The human said while dodging the sword that flew their way. "What do you think will happen? Even if you did make it fix all of this, monsters aren't just going to suddenly reappear on the surface without facing death threats from humans. It'd be better for you to let it end right now," they said. Meanwhile Asriel used his free hand to rain bolts of energy from above.  _I can't control them, if we were all working as one, I could've_ _ended_ _this easily,_ he thought as the human maneuvered around his imprecise attack. 

     "Ruin Uppercleave!" The human shouted while closing in on him. 

     "Barrier Bud Omega!" Asriel responded while stabbing his other sword into the ground. The human's strike was impeded by a shell similar to the other barrier buds, but this time a multitude of thorns erupted from the shell before repeatedly slicing the human as the barrier started rotating. Upon exploding, the barrier paralyzed the human allowing Asriel to slash them with a saber upon reemerging. 

     "You... have nothing left," the human said while falling to one knee. They then slashed at him to have the knife bounce off once again. 

     "Funny you say that, because I would've believed you had you not brought us all back just to sate your curiosity," Asriel said, but the human struck at him once again to no avail. "Why are we here? Was killing me twice not enough?" He asked as their attack continued.

     "Shut up!" The human responded.

     "Did you do it just to fight each of my transformations? Would you bring us back again if there was another one?" He said.

     "I said shut up!" They said.

     "Do you even know why you do anything!" He yelled. 

     "No!" They yelled back. At that point a moment silence passed as the human stopped attacking and the inner turmoil crippled Asriel once more. "I don't know, for the longest I never have," the human said while taking a breather. "You were the one who always had the whats and whys in order," they said while standing up once more. "I on the other hand, only knew that everything I sought was possible through determination," they said while pointing the knife at him. "Goodbye Asriel, Infinine Gash!" They said while slicing Asriel across the chest. There was a flicker of red in the human's eyes as Asriel felt the knife both bind and sever the soul streams that made up his form. A fountain of red stars began to shoot into the sky as the excesses soul energy spewed forth from the wound.

     "Impossible, so many souls, shattering one after another," Asriel said with tears forming in his eyes. "I'm at a loss. For the third time I was murdered by my best friend, what a ridiculous story," he said while looking to the sky. "Come here for a sec, if I have to go, the least you can do is take my hand for a while," he said while beckoning them to come closer. The human couldn't bring their self to look him in the eyes, but they pushed the doubts aside to honor his last request. They then dropped the knife before walking up to him, but as they placed one hand and his, a jolt of pain ran through them as he held on tight.

     "Ahh! What are you doing!" They shouted in pain. 

     "You got me. I'm supposed to have all the whats and whys in order, right? Thing is, you just happened to be the one exception," he said while siphoning their soul energy. "The external forces are still at play. The barrier remains and the hollow dimension still exists. Did you think about that before you dealt the last blow? This is the worst possible outcome I could've ever dreamed of, but because of you we had no choice but to end up here. I can't fathom why this had to be your final decision, but with your power, I can guarantee that it will be a permanent one," he said while pointing to the sky with his other hand. 

     "You're breaking the loop? I thought you needed me and Alphys's invention to do that," the human responded. 

     "I said that because I wanted to make sure everyone went peacefully, but you already made sure that wasn't an option. I hope you enjoyed uncovering one last secret, farewell," he finished. 

_With the echoes of_ _determination,_ _he absorbed from the human,_ _Asriel_ _successfully used the last of his power to destroy the barrier and simultaneously erase the link to the hollow dimension. The human had passed out during the process, but upon waking up they found their self all alone in the empty throne_   _room_ _._   _A_ _strong_ _loneliness was felt as they ventured outside, nonethele_ _ss they slowly traversed down the side of the mountain in disbelief that the surreal journey had finally ended. Upon nearing the bottom of the_ _mountain, they came to a complete stop. From the deep recesses of their mind something emerged. Even amidst their curiosity, they were always looking for it. Understanding their self made placing the values of then over their recent experiences seem very silly, but the answer held so much weight to them considering all they went through to get it. The human's name is..._


End file.
